Falling Higher
by WORMoverBOOK
Summary: AU. After Max's dad is murdered, she is forced to seek refuge with her mother and half-sister whom she's never met. While she's there, the unlikely happens. She makes friends. And maybe even falls in love..? But how's she supposed to keep those she cares for safe if the School is hunting her down? Well, what do you do when anything else threatens your friends? Blow them up. Duh.
1. Full summary

**Okay, so here's the full summary:**

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><p>Jeb, Max's dad, is murdered by the town criminal, Ari, Max is devastated.<p>

Jeb was the only one she could trust, he was the one who had rescued her, the one who had taken care of her scabbed knees and broken bones.

He was also the only one who knew of her secret:

_Wings._

After his death, Max decides to go and find her mom, of which she knows nothing about other than the state she lives in and a last name.

When she finds her mom, she meets Fang and the Gang, with whom she had an instant connection.

Not ready to open up to them, but with the School and a gang of criminals hunting after her, Max is forced to reveal her secret.

But will they accept her?

Will they help her?

And, most importantly, are they hiding a secret of their own?

Only one way to find out...

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><p><strong>Yes, before you say anything, I do know this sucks. I really cannot write summaries. Ask any of my friends, I could summarise the best movie ever and still manage to make it sound boring and uninteresting.<strong>

**Still, I hope you give this a chance. I am aware I tried to write this before, but I really didn't like the last version, I wrote it on a major sugar-high and this is the second version that I'm trying to make better...**

**Please read!**

**WORMoverBOOK.**


	2. Prologue

**Okay, so this is my first fanfic, so please tell me if there's anything I can do to improve it. Flames are welcome. Just not to harsh okay? Like I said, this is my first. **

**Enjoy!**

**Oh, and yes, I do know I've already done this. I didn't like the old one very much, cause it seems to have been written when I was on a major sugar high... **

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><p>Falling higher.<p>

Prologue:

My name is Max. Maximum Martinez.

Experiment number: 83921

Batch number: 9.

Successful.

ID number: 332.

I have that memorised. Used to be on my card. The one outside my cage. The cage I lived in for nine _freaking_ years.

Confused? Well, I'm an experiment from a place called 'the School'. Small T, Big S. The school is a place where all creeps, medical school drop-outs and mad scientists get together to make mutants over tea and biscuits. In other words? It's _hell._

They're_ evil_. _They_ were the ones who grafted wings on my back. Experimented on me for years using all sorts of needles, drugs and tests. Hallucinogenics to test my immune system, making me fight random 'enemies' until I dropped to test my reflexes, making me run for hours without a break or water to test my endurance and stamina. Keep in mind, this was all up to my ninth birthday, when my dad, Jeb, broke me out and took me to live with him. I don't know where my mom is.

So yeah, I have wings. 2% bird and 98% human. Call me a mutant-freak if you want, but I prefer 'Avian American'. Or Max. Also, call me anything that isn't true and I'll break your nose. (I don't like name calling. Much less bullies... yeah, I have anger issues... whatta you looking at?)

They say there might have been others like me, but they escaped some way or another and haven't been heard of since.

So right now, I was on my way home from school. I was flying. Literally, flying (Best mode of transport ever.) soaring high above the tree tops, my light-brown and white dappled wings beating like a second heartbeat. And, in a way, it was. The rhythm was as familiar to me as my own voice. Flap, flap, flap, gliiiiiiiiiiiiide. Flap, flap, flap, gliiiiiiiiiiiiide. Over and over again. It was soothing, methodical, predictable. Constant. And with what was about to happen next, my life needed something constant.

As I approached the house, I noticed the door was open. Unusual, Jeb was all 'save the whales' and we always kept the door closed. _Always._ Keeps the heat in better that way.

I got an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach as I climbed the few short steps to the door of the house. Almost like there was a small mouse in my stomach. Or mice. And they were fighting. Or maybe I'd just eaten a bad enchilada? Happened before...

As I got closer to the kitchen, I registered yelling. The mice were now trying to climb out of my stomach and scratching the sides in the process. I crept closer, careful not to make any noise.

"She's mine, Batchelder! Tell me where she is!" Said a voice, gruff and raw sounding.

I tiptoed to the edge of the divider and pressed myself up against it, peering around into the kitchen.

"I... won't... tell... you!" That voice was my dad's. Jeb. He sounded strained, as though he was in pain. And suddenly I could see why. There was a thick, burly man, holding Jeb up against the wall in a choke hold. Then another man came into view, he had a leather vest on and I could see several tattoo's peeking out from underneath.

"Tell me old man or let me assure you, there will be no mercy. For you or the girl."

I was silent. My mouth was dry, I was frozen in terror. Because the man had turned around, and I was looking straight into the face of the town crim, Ari. Otherwise known as the Wolverine because of the surprising likeness to a wolf. And his sick habit of ripping people's throats out with his bare hands. But that's just what I heard. JJ, my friend, always liked to tell stories. But then again, no one contradicted her like they usually did...

"I won't... tell you! You can't... have her! I... won't... let you!" Jeb croaked out.

"Very well." Ari flicked his wrist and there was a sickening crack as one of the thugs snapped his neck. My dad. The only one who I've ever cared about. And who cared about me.

The noise seemed to bring me back to life, I turned to run, to sprint out and never return. But just as I was turning to go, I heard Ari say one last thing,

"I'll get her. I'll get her and I'll kill her. Her and anyone who has anything to do with that little bitch."

I fled. No, that sounds to mild. I ran like _hell_ out of there. I sprinted as fast as my genetically mutated bird genes would allow. And then I flew.

I know what you're all thinking, 'Your dad just died and you're acting as though you don't even care!' Well, in my defence, I didn't have _time_ to care. Anyway. I was numb. I was stupid, foolish, thinking that we were safe. For some reason I'd thought that all that stuff from the school couldn't touch me here. That for some reason, Nevada was to normal for anything out of the ordinary to happen.

I was wrong.

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><p><strong>As I said, tell me if there's any spelling or grammar mistakes. Or anything that needs improving, or if you have any ideas. Or if you like it. Or if you don't... I don't really care if you ramble on about purple sheep wearing pyjama's! Just review!<strong>

**Ciao!**

**WORMoverBOOK.**


	3. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own... if that wasn't clear enough for you, allow me to write it on a virtual chocolate-chip-cookie. *Is written on cookie*  
><strong>

**I would like to thank all of you who added me to your story alert/favourites... and to them that reviewed... unfortunately, I think my first reviewer was anonymous (Which means I can't reply)... but I would like to say a HUGE thank you to ****blackparadeP who was the first! **

**Blegh... I'm starting to sound mushy... **

**Hope you enjoy!**

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><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter One:

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

_I opened my eyes that were still thick from sleep. At once I tried to close them, the harsh electrical lights made different coloured stars dance on the back of my eyelids._

_The dripping continued._

_I groaned and opened my eyes again. Slowly this time. As I adjusted to the familiar surroundings, there was a rustling from the cage beside me. _

_That was strange. It was empty before._

_I attempted to turn my head to the left to see what the noise was. But it ended up flopping limply. Like a dead fish. They'd worked me particularly hard yesterday. My body ached all over. I could still hear the sounds of the horrible man-beasts they called 'Erasers'. Feel the sensation of someone with super-human strength kicking you in the gut. Smell the worst mix of salty sweat and metallic blood. _

_My eyes focused, and I saw a young boy sitting in the cage. He was dressed in a hospital gown, just like me. He had black hair and dark eyes, that appeared black in the bright white lights of the School._

_He looked back at me._

_Neither of us said anything._

_The dripping continued._

_The strange boy shuffled around a bit, trying to get comfortable. I could've told him it was useless, these cages were made to be uncomfortable. I would've. If my voice had been working. But it wasn't. _

_My throat was thick and dry, and my tongue felt like lead in my mouth._

_My eyes widened in shock as I caught a glimpse of something on his back._

_Not just something._

_Wings._

_Black, smooth and pinned unnaturally behind his back, they looked to be about three feet across._

_I couldn't believe it. I wasn't alone. There was someone else out there like me._

_There was a scuffling outside the door, as the white-coats started to file into the room._

_Our eyes connected. And in that moment, I made him a silent promise._

_We would get out of here._

_We would stick together._

We would survive.

I woke with a start. Cold sweat trickling down my back and neck, drenching my clothes and even my hair.

Gross.

I stopped trying to think what the dream was about. I couldn't remember. I never could.

It happened a lot.

Jeb called them night-terrors.

Had.

Jeb _had _called them night-terrors.

In a flash, reality came crashing down on me. I felt the cold, hard wood of the bench I was sleeping in. I heard the sound of cars rushing past and smelt the tang of wet grass and tree bark mixed with cigarettes and exhaust fumes.

I felt my eyes prickle as the memories of yesterday came crashing down on me.

Ari, pinning Jeb up against the wall.

One of his thugs, snapping his neck.

Me, flying for my life, straight to one of our emergency check-points, that Jeb and I had made in case such an emergency came up.

Me, grabbing a Nike` sports back filled with food, clothes and a first aid kit.

Me, flying until I couldn't any more and then crashing in the nearest park.

I blinked.

_Snap out of it Max. Crying never gets anyone anywhere. You've never cried before, and now is not a good time to start._

Sighing, I stood up, stretched and grabbed my stuff. Planning to head on up again after a quick meal and maybe a shower at one of the local 24/7 gyms.

_You need a plan. _I thought to myself.

Okay, so maybe flying off with no money and no plan wasn't the best idea. But could you blame me? My first and foremost thought was to get the hell away from the psycho who'd just murdered my dad.

For the first time I wished I had a mother. She'd know what to do. She'd comfort me and cook for me, and tell me everything was going to be alright. She'd come up with a plan.

_Wait a minute... my mom!_

I could find my mom! I mean, I'd never been told anything about her other than her last name was Martinez and that she lived in Arizona. But I could still find her... right? Isn't that what libraries are for?

I allowed myself a quick grin.

I had a plan.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't the best plan. And it wasn't exactly fool-proof. Not to mention, I had no idea what to do when (Or if) I actually found her. I could hardly just show up on her doorstep with the words: "Hi, I'm you're daughter. My dad was murdered a while ago, a dangerous criminal may be after me, and I am a mutant-freak. Can I crash at yours?"

I don't think that would receive the best reaction.

Still, it was better than nothing.

I got up off the bench, still thinking, and made my way to the nearest library (Which was, thankfully, open 24/7) completely unaware of the gleaming yellow eyes watching my back at that moment.

Unaware that the decision I had just made would affect everything. My life. My family's life. My friend's lives.

Life as I knew it was about to be blown apart.

But I didn't know it then of course.

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><p>He watched her.<p>

The way she flicked her hips as she walked.

The way her smile made his heart beat faster in his cheast.

The way she was completely unaware of how she affected him. Unaware even, that he was there in the first place.

He knew his orders.

Receive and report.

To see but not be seen.

He knew what it was he had to do.

He licked his lips as he followed her.

Silently stalking, condemning her to her unofficial fate.

It was a shame really, he though.

A shame that he had to take her to his boss.

She could've made him happy.

_Very _happy.

In the dark, his eyes gleamed gold, and an unearthly growl escaped him.

He watched her as she climbed the stairs to the local library. As she pushed open the doors and walked inside.

And, in the dark, he changed.

He was no longer standing on two human feet. Or watching through the dulled senses of the average person.

He was a wolf. Silent. Deadly.

And ready to pounce.

In the dark, he stood.

Watching.

Waiting.

For her.

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><p><strong>Hmm... this chapter is quite long... (For me)... well at least, on my computer it said it was about six or seven pages... <strong>

**Please, read, review and tell me what I can do to make it better.**

**Oh, and if you see any spelling mistakes, do not hesitate to point them out. Seriously, I don't mind if all you do is review and say: "You're. Not your." At least I still know you're reading!**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If anyone actually reads the authors note at the bottom, review and mention something about caterpillar's... I want to know how many of you actually read these things...**


	4. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer: I don't own. I am not JP. I highly doubt he types in a pink room wrapped in a purple comforter while watching Dr. Who... if he does... well... then we can talk...**

**Hey. Me here.**

**Hope you enjoy this!**

**And a thank you to everyone who reviewed/ alerted/ favourited. You're all awesomely-epic!**

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><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter two:

Yes!

I had an address!

I knew where she lived!

And I had a sister!

Well, a half-sister. But still!

And guess what was even better!

She only lived about a day's flying from where I was now! (Okay, that doesn't exactly sound like good news, but it is to me, because I ended up going in the wrong direction, and it could've been a week away. And I only have enough clothes and stuff to last a few days.)

I glanced around me, making sure no one was watching me. And nipped off the path into a back alley. I knew it was dangerous to take off while there was daylight, but I couldn't wait to meet my mom and sister. Besides, it was such a cloudy day that I doubted anyone would be able to see me anyway.

I dropped my jacket, checking the mouth of the alley to make sure no one was about to walk in and see a girl with dirty-blonde hair, clothes with more holes in them then there were pockets, and a pair of tawny-brown wings about to do an up-and-away.

I grinned to myself as I thought of the expressions that would undoubtedly be on their faces.

Backing up to the brick wall blocking off the back of the alley, I heard a cough from behind me.

"Dude... are those... wings...?"

"Woo-ow... man, this stuff must be stronger than we thought..."

I froze and turned around to see two guys gaping at me.

They both had a tumble of messy brown dread-locks, pale skin and were quite obviously smoking some kind of happy-stick if you know what I mean.

I blinked.

They blinked back.

Ah hell.

"I'm, um... not really here. Yeah. I'm just a figment of your imagination..." I sang.

One of them opened they're mouths to say something, but I quickly flew up above them before they could say anything.

Well, that was... interesting...

Nothing really happened on my flight.

I raided a Macky'D's dumpster, had a shower at an old 24/7 gym (And thankfully managed to hide the wings), had about three hours worth of debating whether or not to actually go through with my decision and pretty much regretted ever quitting my morning run.

See. Not that much to get excited about.

Things started to heat up after I got to the neighbourhood I was I would be living in, (Assuming of course, that they actually let me stay).

The first thing I saw as I descended through the thick white clouds and landed on the lush green grass of the local park (Landed behind the toilets when no one was looking don't worry), was a guy with spiked up bubblegum blue hair and a smaller guy with matching blonde hair, lighting what appeared to be some kind of fuse using a magnifying glass and a black vivid.

I could tell about five minutes later, (When the small black mushroom cloud rose into the air) that these were definitely some people I wanted to get to know.

I grinned to myself and started to make my way along the path, looking for #6 greenfield place. **(A/N: I have got no idea where Dr M and Ella live in the book... lets just pretend it's here okay...?)**

Taking a deep breath, I the stood on the pavement outside observing the white picket-fence that surrounded the two storey white-brick house. The garden was neat and organized, the well-kept flowers framing the gravel that lead up to the steps in front of the door.

One word:

Wow. I was going to live here!

Well, okay, I probably wouldn't. I mean, what're the odds of my mom being cool with the whole wing-thing? Shall we say 1 in 80... 1 in 100?

They would reject me. Just like any other sane person would.

Still... I had come all this way... it would be a shame not to at least try... I didn't have to tell them about the wings. If they let me stay, I could wait a while and see if they were the kind of people I could trust with my secret. It was worth a shot.

Raising a hand, I hesitantly rang the door bell, the cheery tune ringing audibly throughout the house.

I heard footsteps coming my way.

Oh crap. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Wiping my suddenly sweaty hands on my jeans, I tried my best to stay cool.

I was _the _Maximum Ride. Since when did I get scared of some simple relatives?

I took a deep breathe as the white door creaked open.

"Hi. My name is Maximum Ride."

No going back now.

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><p><strong>Yep... there you go... little semi-cliffhanger there...<strong>

**Um... don't really know what to say... review and tell me about pickles if you read this? (The authors note) :P**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: YOU'RE ALL AWESOME!**


	5. Chapter Three

**Disclaimer: Do not own. I seriously am not an author. You can tell by looking at me. Most authors don't wear fluffy bright pinks socks while writing on their bed, staring at a pink wall and watching Big Bang Theory. Well at least JP doesn't. :)  
><strong>

**'Ello 'Ello.**

**So nice to see (?) you again!**

**I'm actually quite surprised at how fast I seem to be updating, and how regularly. I know it may not seem like that fast, but once a week is really quick for me. **

**I know this chapter may be a little bit boring, but I will get on to the good bits soon! (I think) I don't actually have a plan for this story, just a vague idea of where I want it to go... so if anyone has any suggestions, they would be welcome!**

**Enjoy! **

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><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Three:

"Hi. My name is Maximum Ride."

No going back now.

The girl stared at me.

She had long, dark-brown hair, matching eyes and olive skin that showed her Hispanic heritage. She was short. But not that short. I am, after all, very tall for someone my age. Some people say I could pass as a seventeen year old. Not bad considering I'm fifteen in a few months.

She looked me up and down. Probably taking in the ripped converse, filthy jeans, knotted hair and dirt-encrusted fingernails.

"You selling something? Because we're not interested."

I shook my head quickly.

"No, no. I'm actually here to see... ah... Valencia Martinez...?" It came out as more of a question.

She gave me a long, withering look, then, without turning away from me called out (Surprisingly loud for someone of her size)

"MOM!"

I winced. Super-hearing was not something you wanted around this girl. I could only imagine the tantrums she could throw.

"MOM! SOME HOBO'S ON THE FRONT PORCH! SHE SAYS SHE WANTS TO SPEAK TO YOU!"

"Um.. I'm... I'm not a hobo." I said.

She raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow.

"You look like one."

I considered my situation. I suppose I was technically a hobo until (And if) the Martinez's took me in. Maybe there was a reason she'd given me away. I probably wasn't even wanted here. I was stupid to come.

"You know what," I started to say to Ella, "Forget it, I'm sure she's very busy."

Just at that moment, an older lady appeared besides, what I could only assume was her daughter. They both looked exactly alike. Having dark-brown hair, heart-shaped faces and not to mention the clean clothes and nails. I felt pretty out of place standing on their front deck, staining the wood-work with all types of mud and dirt that was stuck in my shoes. I probably stunk too.

"Umm... hi. I'm Maximum Ride-" I started, but was cut off by a loud, high-pitched squeal.

"EEEEEE! Ella, go set the kitchen table, get out the chocolate-chip-cookies! We have a very special guest here!"

Ella blinked at her mom.

"Really? She's a special guest?" There was no mistaking the sarcasm in her tone.

"Yes," Said her mom, gritting her teeth, "This is Max. Your sister...? The one I told you about...?"

Ella blinked again. Then her face split into a huge grin.

"No. Way. Really? OMFG! I can't believe it! _The _Max! In my house!... Well, okay, technically it's my mom's house, but the point is that you're here!"

Now it was my turn to blink. I really wasn't expecting this. Actually, I was kinda hoping they wouldn't know about me, I'd tried me and Jeb had tried out hardest to disappear off the map. If these people knew who I was, there was no telling how many of my enemies knew.

"Um... wow. I didn't really know that I was this well-known." I stated, wincing a bit at the prospect of how easy it would be to track me down if everyone knew who I was.

"Well, you're not. I mean, you are... oh, it's complicated, come in a have a seat, I'll explain everything to you while we eat." Said Mrs Martinez.

"Thank you, um... actually, do you mind if I ask you something first Mrs Martinez?"

"Oh please, call me mom. That just makes me feel old."

I frowned... I didn't really want to call her mom. I'd known the lady for five minutes. It took me years to get around to even accepting that Jeb was my dad. I never called him that though.

"Or Dr. M." She hurriedly added, obviously catching the look on my face.

I nodded.

"...Okay..."

Ten minutes later, I had finished telling Dr. M and Ella my story. Well, most of it. I left out the dumpster dive on the way over.

"So... I was wondering whether or not it would be okay if I stayed for a while... you know, just until I figured out where else I can go."

They both gaped at me.

It turns out they both knew about the wings. Dr. M said that when she had me she was just a teenager and that Jeb had told her it would be best if she put me up for adoption. And so she had. At the time she was around sixteen, and wasn't ready for kids. I didn't blame her for what had happened. She though she was doing what was best. When she'd found out what the School had done to me, she'd apologised so many times even Ella was telling her that I had forgiven her.

When Jeb had next called her (He'd run off as soon as she'd put me up for 'adoption') he was saying how sorry he was and that he'd changed. This was around the time Ella was born. She suspected something was up, because when she'd tried to get a hold of the adoption agency that had supposedly taken me, all she had gotten was a dead line.

Jeb had explained to her what had happened to me... well, part of it anyway. The bit about the wings. I'm not sure how he had told her without letting her know how it happened, but whatever it was it must've been pretty persuasive.

Jeb had also told her it was best if she didn't try to contact me. He said we had a lot of enemies (True) and that it would be safer for both her and Ella if she just stayed away.

Understandably, Dr. M had done what he'd said, probably assuming it was some kind of gang thing.

"Oh, honey! Of course you can stay! You can stay as long as you want! I can even sign you up at Ella's school... of course, it may be a little difficult hiding you err... _wings_ at times, but if I give you a permanent exclusion from swimming, make sure you're always wearing a jacket and go out for flights regularly, we should be all good! Thank the lord we live next door to a forest huh?" She was off and rambling to herself as soon as she'd given me permission to stay.

I turned to Ella to find her grinning at me.

"OMG! I'm so happy you're going to be staying with us!" She said, getting up and giving me a hug.

I shifted uncomfortably. I was never one for personal contact. Romantic or otherwise. I just could not stand people getting up in my space.

"Um... yeah." I said in response. Still trying to subtly escape her viper grip.

Thankfully, she seemed to notice my discomfort.

"Oh, here. Have a cookie! I'll go and talk to mom, and sort out the details."

I nodded and took the cookie offered to me.

Oh.

My.

God.

I have not lived!

Ella must've noticed the look on my face, because she burst into fits of giggles.

"They're good aren't they? Mom made them. She is the bomb at baking cookies."

I just nodded in agreement, to intent on shoving the fourth cookie in my mouth to really reply.

"Ella! Get in here! I have to figure out what grade your sister will be!" Dr. M shouted from inside the kitchen.

It sounded so alien to hear someone talking about me as a sister... I mean, I've had friends before that said we were like sisters (JJ back in Nevada), but I'd never even thought of the possibility of having a sister I didn't know about living in a different state.

"Oh!" Squealed Ella, coming back into the room.

"We are going to have so much fun! We can get shoes and clothes and handbags and furniture..." She rambled on in the background. "...And I can call Nudge! And we can all go together... maybe she'll even bring Iggy!"

"Woah there. What's all this about?" I asked, unable to feel a little aprihensive about whatever it was she was so exited about.

"We're going _SHOPPING!"_

Oh god.

Kill me now.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading! <strong>

**All your comments and reviews and favourites and the likes make it all worth while... I may flunk social studies for typing this instead of doing homework, but all for a good cause!**

**Review and tell me your favourite quote if you read the authors note!**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: I would like to give a huge shout-out to all my reviewers and anyone who reads this story... as mushy as I sound. You're awesome. **

**P.P.S: GO THE ALL BLACKS!**


	6. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer: Do not own. If I did, Fang wouldn't have been such an ass. And Dylan wouldn't exist. And Lisa would've died a horrible death. (Cue evil laughter and thunder)**

**Okay, I know this is pretty short and sucky, but I didn't really have that much time to write recently, due to my many feeble attempts at getting a social life.**

**I will try to update again sooner than usual though. (I currently update on a one a Friday schedule.)**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Four:

"I dunno. I like this one better. What do you think Max?" Asked Ella, holding up a frilly pink off-the-shoulder top. (Yes, you read right, a _frilly, pink _off-the-shoulder top)

"Uhhh... I wouldn't know..." I said cautiously, eyeing the sparkly monstrosity with disdain.

Ella, Nudge (Her best friend) and I were out shopping for my new clothes.

Kind of.

I think they'd given up on me about three stores ago and had started searching for themselves. I didn't mind. I'd just pop into Walmart while they were distracted and get myself a few more pairs of jeans, tracksuits and some new hoodies. And a new pair of sneakers.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but the ones I were currently wearing were literally being held together by duct-tape.

"-And then I told him to get lost, y'know? Cause he had totally just told me that my shoes were last season. And get this. He even tripped me up on the way to school. Again. I mean, what's a girl supposed to do? I, of course, painted his face in his sleep and posted the pictures up on youtube, but he _still _wouldn't stop. So I stole his clothes and made him run naked through the halls. Well, not entirely naked. I did leave him a leopard -skin thong to wear-"

Nudge's caramel-coloured curls bobbed animatedly as she spoke, hands gesturing to get her meaning across.

I had no idea what she was rambling about, but Ella was listening attentively, nodding in the appropriate times and 'hmm-ing' along in agreement.

When I had first met her, Nudge's ability to spout a 300 word paragraph faster than I'm sure it was possible to say 'fan-freaking-tastic', but after spending two hours with the girl (That's right, we'd been shopping for _two hours_) you learnt to get used to it.

"Um, if you two don't mind, I'm going to just head out for a bit. All this pink is making me nauseous." I said with a small smile, slowly backing out of the store that I'm sure was designed with the purpose of being my own personal hell.

The only reaction I got was a vague hand-flap from Ella. I took it as a go ahead.

Walking out of the shop so fast I'm pretty sure I gave myself whip-lash, I leant against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. And of fresh air. I don't know what kind of perfume they used in there, but I'll bet it's given someone hallucinations before.

Heaving another sigh, I made my way to Walmart.

While I was rifling through the racks of different coloured hoodies, I came across a blue head of hair. Bubble-gum blue.

It was the same guy from the park when I was on my way to Ella and Dr. M's house. When he saw me, standing above him with an eyebrow raised, he lifted a finger to his lips in the universal sign for 'Be quiet'. I nodded and started backing away from him.

Can you blame me? He was the same age as me and still hiding in the clothing racks.

And he had a small device in his hand that looked suspiciously like a home-made bomb.

I saw his adam's apple bob as he gulped. I wasn't sure why, but it didn't take me long to figure it out.

As I was walking backwards, I seemed to hit a wall that I could've sworn wasn't there before. It was also surprisingly warm for a wall. And it grabbed me. With it's hands.

I don't think it was a wall.

Of course my first instinct was to elbow whoever it was who'd I'd run into in the stomach and make a break for the nearest exit (Which I'd scanned for when I'd first entered the building... safety first kids!).

Unfortunately my ninja skills didn't seem to have the desired effect on (Let's call him Mr. Brick shall we?) as all he did was let out a small grunt of surprise and grab onto my waist to stop himself from falling over.

It didn't work.

We both went toppling to the ground, me letting out a small squeak when I landed onto of him. Maybe my ninja skills were getting a bit rusty, because all I did, intsead of doing my whole Jakie-Chan thing and landing on my feet, I had twisted around while we were falling so that now I was facing him. And lying on top of him.

Wow Max, you have a new record for an awkward meeting.

Way to go.

Of course while I was lying there staring at him and the blue-haired kid was laughing his (Would be) sorry ass of in the corner, Ella and Nudge just had to come around the corner.

Ella took one look at me and Mr. Brick's positions and said,

"Damn girl! You work fast."

And cue the awkward foot shuffling.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah I know: "That's it?" but I did tell you why up at the top.<strong>

**If you read this (A/N), review and tell me about... who you're supporting in the Rugby World Cup...?**

**WORMoverBOOK**

**P.S: Virtual cookies to whoever can guess who Mr. Brick and the blue-haired boy are. (Even though it's obvious)**


	7. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer: I don't own. Any of this really. Well, I own anything I came up with myself (Duh) but I don't own any of JP's characters (Duh. There's a reason it's put down as his characters).**

**Okay, yeah. I know this is short again, but I did say that I would give two shorter updates closer together this week. **

**And yes. It is still the same week. *Glares menacingly***

**Anywho,**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Five:

"So... you two seem pretty well acquainted."

I glared at my supposed 'sister'. Turns out she knew smurfles and Mr. Brick. Smurfles was a guy who went to her school called Iggy. Mr. Brick was Iggy's brother, Nick. Or Fang. People mostly called him Fang. (He went to the same school as Iggy and Ella)

As far as I could tell, he was an egotistical jerk. And one of the 'popular' crowd at my new school. Yay. Another reason to hate him. He was the stereotypical emo. Shaggy black hair, olive (Why do they even say that? I mean, olives are green aren't they?) skin, onyx eyes, all black clothing. I have nothing against emo's or goth's, but something about this guy seriously annoyed me.

It probably had something to do with the fact that the first thing he said when I managed to pull myself off him was:

"I usually have girls tripping over me, but that's trying a little to hard don't you think?"

Of course my response was to kick him in the balls and make a break for it.

Iggy seemed pretty cool though. His bubble-gum blue hair, matching blue eyes and pale skin made him the total polar opposite of his twin (Did I forget to mention that...? Yeah. They're twins). He was a total pyro as well, which gave him big points in my book. While his brother was rolling around on the floor in pain, he was laughing his ass off in the corner. I wouldn't mind being friends with this guy. Except for the fact that he ruined my awesome exit by accidentally tripping me up.

Me, being me, went flying through the air in a less then graceful manner, landing, once again, on my stomach on the floor. At least this time I ended up landing besides Fang rather then on top of him.

Ella and Nudge, being the helpful people they are, were just standing by snickering and watching me get humiliated.

I am so going to hurt them later.

Giving Ella my best 'I'm-going-to kill you-sometime-when-you-least-expect-it' glare, I grabbed a random hoodie off the shelf and went to go pay for it.

What?

We'd come for clothes and I'd be damned if I'd spent three hours in a mall and came out with nothing.

But right before I could leave, Fang grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him.

"Going so soon?" He asked with a cocky smirk.

Well, it was sort of a smirk. It was more like a twitch of his lips, but even though I'd known him less than fifteen minutes I could tell that he never smiled.

Probably worried about getting smile lines or something.

"Yes." I said with fake regret. "As much as I would like to stay and kick you in the nuts again, I have places to be and other people to hurt." I added the last bit with a glare at Ella, who was the one who'd insisted on introducing us.

Personally, I wouldn't have cared if I never saw the creep again.

But life obviously did.

One thing to say:

If fate were a person, I would kick their ass.

* * *

><p><strong>Yep. Like I said, this is a short one because I updated earlier this week (I think) with another short chapter.<strong>

**Meh.**

**If you read this (The authors note) review and tell me what colour you would dye your hair if you could. (Could be any colour, purple, blue, green, anything!)**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: Apologies it's got such a sucky ending. ^_^**


	8. Chapter Six

**Disclaimer: I don't own. If I owned Maximum Ride, then my sister is a wombat. (Actually... there's a chance that one might be true!)**

***Does little happy dance***

**The All-Blacks got through to the final!**

**Yay! (For those of you who don't know what I'm raving on about, I'm talking about the Rugby world cup... which is huge over here. 'Specially because it's being held in the country this year! In Auckland actually! It was originally going to be held in Christchurch [Where I live] but because of all the earth-quakes recently, it had to be moved to Auckland. :'( Sad I know...)**

**Anywho!**

**I'm going to stop ranting now, and just let you read the story.**

**BUT. Before I forget, shout out to all my reviewers, especially the anonymous ones. I don't really get a chance to reply to yours soo...**

**THANKS YOU GUYS!**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Six:

Iggy and his brother (Who's name I will not mention until said brother apologises for being such a jerk) were coming over for dinner.

Apparently this was some sort of tradition for our families to meet every month for a barbecue during summer.

Yay. (Note the sarcasm people, I'm pretty much drowning in it here)

But that wasn't the worst of it.

According to Dr. M, I wasn't allowed to go out for a two hour flight in the time they'd be here. Which meant that I would undoubtedly be stuck sitting opposite to Fang and Iggy, trying to make small awkward small talk. (And my wings were aching like you wouldn't believe from being cooped up all day. I hadn't had a chance to go out for a flight yet)

In case you hadn't noticed yet, my social skills are severely lacking. So what would've been awkward was probably going to be a billion times worse.

At least I didn't have to wear a skirt. (When Ella had threatened to make me wear one as punishment for being rude to her crush's brother, I went out on the roof and told her I would jump, fly off and would only come back to steal her chocolate-chip cookies. Safe to say, she agreed I could wear jeans)

My relationship with her was weird. It was like we'd always known each other, teasing and annoying one another like we'd grown up together.

I was a bit more cautious of Dr. M. Even though she'd proven herself to be a good person so far, most of the adults in my life hadn't really been prime examples of parents and I was still wary of trusting her.

Great. All this thinking of adults and how they can't be trusted had me circling right back around to Jeb's death.

I'd tried my hardest not to think of it for the past few days. While I was flying here to my new home, when I was shopping with Ella and Nudge. Even when I was telling the story of what had happened to him I did my best to put it out of my mind.

I sighed to myself and moped my way to the stairs.

Dressed in my old torn white-wash jeans, new black hoodie with 'I love the rain' on it with lots of little love hearts falling down in rainbow colours and my trusty duct-tape converse, I slid half-heartedly down the banister.

...And straight into a certain black-haired idiot waiting at the bottom.

Before you go all; "It's fate, it wants you two to be together" "You secretly like him, I can tell because you keep falling into each other" and "You two are going to be together forever and have lots of little babies" Let me just tell you now;

I HATE FANG KINGSTON.

There. Glad we got that all cleared up.

Anyway, I'd just slid down the bannister into an awaiting ass-hat's arms...

"OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

"BEING IN THE WAY, JERK-FACE!"

"What're you talking about? You were the one who fell onto me!... Again...!"

"YOU ASS!" (Yeah... not my best come-back ever)

I swear my right eye was twitching.

Okay, I will admit that when I fell into someone my first thought was that Ari and his crew had found me.

So I did the only practical thing to do in that situation.

I kicked him in the balls, punched him in the nose, elbowed him in the stomach and flipped him over my shoulder.

Hehehehehehehehehehe...

Unfortunately for me, Dr. M had just come in for some salad-dressing and had seen the whole thing.

_I'm in sooo much trouble._

Still, it was worth it. Seeing Fang's face when he hit the ground was priceless.

I really wish someone had taken a photo of that.

"Oh, dude!" Said Iggy, slapping his knee in amusement. "I got that whole thing on camera! You were just beaten by a girl! Honestly! The look on your face! Priceless!"

Dr. M gave me a look that clearly said; _This isn't over._

I raised an eyebrow at Iggy challengingly.

"What? You think that just because I'm a girl I didn't stand a chance?"

He gulped.

"Uh... no... that's- that's not what I meant... it's just... uh... I... um... have to go now?" He stuttered.

I grinned. Not one of my I'm-such-a-total-psychopath-that-I-want-to-eat-your-children smiles, but an actual real grin.

"Can I get a copy of that tape?" I asked, my voice coated with sugar.

He nodded.

"Sure, wait about half an hour. It'll be up on youtube before I get home!"

Hehehehehehehehehehe...

Excellent.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Iggy gulp again, and Fang went slightly paler.

Uh-oh. Did I do that out loud?

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah... I know... my chapters have been really short lately. But in my defence, this seemed like a good place to leave off.<strong>

**Meh.**

**I will try to make the next one longer.**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If you read this (Authors Note) then mention bagels in your review. ;P**

**P.P.S: Just to clarify, Iggy IS NOT blind in this fic. Well... I dunno. He might have bad sight in one eye or something... haven't really figured that out yet. **


	9. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer: We've been over this before; I do not own. If JP writes while staring absent-mindedly at his mother's old cremated dog then let me know.**

***Sighs* Yeah... I know, not the best chapter. Mostly just mindless drabble at the moment. **

**BUT IT'S ALL GOOD! **

**I have a plot-plan. :D So things should start moving along soon...**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Seven:

Someone tapped me on the shoulder.

I jumped and stood on their toe. (Yeah. I know. That's _really _gonna make them beg for mercy) I was really losing my touch.

"Ow! Damn it Max! It's just me! You know... Nudge! We went shopping just earlier today, which was when you first met Fang and Iggy and you kicked Fang in the balls again, and Iggy was laughing in the corner because you managed to stop him from getting caught with the stink bomb he was planning to set off. Good work by the way, he once set off a stink bomb in my room... I had to sleep in the tree outside my window for an entire week before it was even safe enough to go in there to put out some air freshening. I'm actually surprised he didn't do some lasting damage to me. I mean-"

Thank. God.

Someone shut-off the Nudge channel.

Fang got up and glared at me. I just smiled angelically in response.

* * *

><p>Ten minuets later I was tied to a tree in a giant starfish and seriously regretting kicking him in the shin. Not anything else though... that was all worth it.<p>

"Fang! Let me down!" _My wings are starting to hurt!_

"Nope. Not until you apologise and beg for my forgiveness."

I rolled my eyes. As if that was going to happen.

"Seriously? How likely do you think it is I'm actually going to do that?"

He nodded.

"I thought you might say that. Which is why I'm prepared with this." He said, holding up one of Iggy's renowned stink-bombs.

My eyes widened.

"Fang. Fang-Fang-Fang-Fang-Fang... you don' really want to do that do you... do you...?"

He grinned wickedly.

"Oh, Max. You really don't know me at all do you?"

I decided right then and there that I liked emotionless Fang much better then I liked devil-in-disguise Fang. (Anyone else hear that in the transformers theme-song?).

"HEY FANG!" Iggy called out, running along the conveniently abandoned lawn towards his twin.

Fang sighed.

"What is it Iggy. Can't it wait? I'm a bit busy here, as you can see." He said, gesturing to me, who attempted to give a little wave with two of my fingers.

Iggy gave me a little nod in recognition.

"It can wait, I suppose. I just thought you might want to know that _Hell in Heels _has arrived."

Fang's eyes widened.

Handing Iggy the stink-bomb, he looked around in panic.

"Here, take this. Do whatever you want with her, but do not. I repeat; DO. NOT. Let her go."

"Yes Sir." Said Iggy, giving him a mock-salute.

Without another word, Fang trotted across the lawn, hands in pockets and looking as though he was trying his hardest not to be noticed.

"Huh. Sketchy." I said.

"Absolutely." Said Iggy, walking towards me.

"Now, this may sound a little strange," He continued, "But when I was in the hiding in the bushes over there eavesdropping, I could've sworn I saw Fang _smile_."

I shuddered.

"Yep. It's creepy really. I think I prefer him when he doesn't smile."

Iggy nodded and looked thoughtful. A big feat for him really.

"Or talk. Fang never talks. Or smiles. Did you slip something in his food?"

"Sure," I said sarcastically, "Now, not that this isn't fun and all, but would you mind letting me down now?"

He grinned, and untied me.

"Thanks. I knew there was a reason I hadn't kicked you yet. Now I have to go. Revenge to plot and all of that."

He nodded in understanding. (Anyone else notice how much people seem to nod around me? I guess I just render them all speechless.)

"If you ever need any help with that, just let me know. Me and my cousin Gazzy are experts in that area."

I flashed him a bright smile.

"Will do."

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><p><strong>Chapters will start to get longer when the plot really starts kicking in... which will be around chapters nine and ten.<strong>

**THE ALL-BLACKS WON THE WORLD CUP! *Does little dance***

**Close game too. 8-7.**

**Anywho!**

**I am so sorry this chapter is so short, I will do my best to make the next one longer, but I can't make any promises considering school is kicking in again soon. (Tomorrow actually) Which sucks because we have P.E tomorrow as well and I haven't done any form of physical activity since they started. (Blegh)**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If you read this (The authors note) review and tell me your favourite song!**


	10. Chapter Eight

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise... yet...**

**Hi.**

**Yeah... I know this has taken a while to get out again, but I was busy! (I'm am currently trying to gain a life... not going to well really)**

**Note: I don't know American schooling. Tried to google it, but none of it made any sense... so I just used the**

**English terms. **

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Eight:

It was the first day of school and I was already prepared to kill Ella.

She had put me in a skirt. That's right, you heard me; _a skirt._

I wasn't going to keep it on of course, but the point still stood.

"Okay Max. Can I trust you not to take this off?" Said mentioned devil-sister, probably blinking 'innocently'.

I gave her a 'what do you think' look. Which was wasted because of the inch of wood between us.

"If I pay you twenty bucks will you wear it to school?" She sighed.

Good to know she knew me for who I was.

I know what you're thinking; "How the hell did a fourteen year old girl manage to get _the _Maximum Ride into a skirt without gaining any life-threatening injures?". Well... it's a long story that involves a lot of screaming and a pair of fluffy, pink handcuffs, (I don't even want to know why she had them in her dresser) and I really can't be bothered telling you it.

Anyway, right now I was standing in my room, looking at myself in the mirror and yelling at Ella through the locked (Isn't it great! Dr. M's door's lock!) door.

"For goodness sake Max, you've got to come out of there _some _time."

"No! I refuse!" I yelled through the wood, stomping my foot like a little kid.

I heard a dramatic sigh.

Then: "You've forced me to do this you know Max."

I heard the sound of the window next to mine opening and something being chucked out. A delicous smell rose to my nostrils.

"ELLA! THOSE BETTER NOT BE WHAT I THINK THEY ARE!"

I raced over to my window to see cookie after cookie after chocolate-chip cookie flying through the air.

I shrieked (Probably the only time you would hear me make such a girly noise) and threw the nearest object which just happened to be a shoe at where I imagined Ella's head would be.

"Ugh! Ella I hate you!" I whined.

* * *

><p><span>Fang's POV:<span>

I was walking down the street on my way to school when I saw it.

Max in a skirt.

I hadn't known her for very long, but the first time I saw her I could tell she wasn't the type to dress up for a wedding let alone the first day of school.

I stopped in the middle of the road and watched, amused, as she picked up a shoe and threw it at the door.

"Ugh, Ella I hate you!" I faintly heard her exclaim.

Iggy then noticed I was no longer walking beside him.

"Fang?" He said, "What are you doing?"

I just gestured at the open window, not one to talk for more than the essentials.

"Ah." He said in a knowing voice.

An annoyingly knowing voice. I wasn't sure what it was that he thought he knew, but I knew he knew I wouldn't like it. (Wow, lot of 'knew's' there)So I glared at him.

Max finally noticed the two of us standing on the street outside her window, because she called out a "Hey Iggy! Wait a moment and I'll walk with you!"

She shoved a pair of Nike track-pants on under the skirt, then tugged it off after, grabbing her back and slipping nimbly onto the roof.

"What," I called out to her, "No hello for me?"

Iggy looked at me shocked, it was so rare that I talked to people I didn't know, especially without having reason to. Max just laughed, a sort of ironic sound that I decided amused me.

"I would say it was nice to see you," She said, dropping from the roof to the ground under it and then hopping over the fence, "But I would be lying and my father taught me never to lie."

She looked a little sad after she'd said this last bit, like she was trying not to think of something terrible.

"Yeah. Well... we should be going." Said Iggy, as he recovered from the shock of hearing me talk without any sort of prompt.

"Yep. We better run if we want to make it without having Ella chase after us with a hockey stick."

Huh... interesting family this. At least I know where they get their more... violent tendencies from now though.

"Well... I mean, we could always wait for Ella," Iggy suggested, trying and failing to be subtle about it.

Iggy has had a crush on Ella Martinez ever since they first met in year 3. He has been trying to work up the guts to ask her out for years and the closest he's come to it so far is accidentally spilling punch on her in the year 6 dance. Probably not the best way to start a relationship.

Still better than the way me and Max had started out though.

Wait...

What?

* * *

><p><strong>I am aware that this isn't the best and that it's quite short, but I've pretty much given up on trying to make these chapters longer.<strong>

**Yeah...**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If you read this (The A/N) then review and... tell me your favourite TV programme(s). :P**


	11. Chapter Nine

**Disclaimer: I don't own. If I did it would've taken a lot longer for it to be published, and the books wouldn't be nearly as good... plus, I wouldn't be on a site called _Fanfiction._  
><strong>

**Long one this time. (Lol... that's what she said)**

**Anyway..**

**Sorry I haven't updated in so long, I've been pretty busy... (Nah, not really. Just couldn't be bothered pulling the inspiration out of my... uhhh... well... you get the point.)**

**Thanks to TGG [Cause she's awesome]. Who probably edited this for me. (Well, her version of editing which involves a lot of laughing at the funny bits and emailing me back the exact same thing [Nothing wrong with doing that] with an add-in at the bottom A/N saying she's awesome.. (Sound familiar TGG...?)**

**Enough of my rambling...**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"...And so, I will be doing my best as elected student president, to ensure that you have the best experience of your highschool life!" Scattered applause.<p>

A balding man hesitantly stood up on the raised wooden platform and took over from the smiling redhead. The fact that half of the people sitting in the bleachers looked ready to fall asleep didn't seem to bother her as she continued to smile that face-splitting grin.

"Um... thank you for that Lisa... that was very... inspiring..." The balding man stuttered out, as if he was hunting for words.

Assemblies are always boring. As to be expected, they are even worse if you have no idea what's going on or who anyone is.

I suppressed a groan as yet another preppy looking girl (Blonde this time) skipped up to the podium and started to rant on about cheerleading.

Ugh.

"Psst... Max..." I heard Nudge hiss from the row above me.

"What?" I asked loudly, not bothering to try and be subtle as I turned to look at her.

She blushed slightly at the disapproving glances the students around us were giving her.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to sit with us at lunch... you looked like you were about to fall asleep by the way." She whispered.

"Sure... why not."

"Great! I'll see you then, then!"

"Uh-huh." I responded dryly, more interested in the fact that we were allowed to leave.

"It's going to be so great, you know! Cause then we'll all be happy and..." I zoned out one Nudge's rambling again and made my way to the exit.

"Wait! Max, you agree don't you!" Nudge shouted, racing after me, "Cause Ella said I can't do it if you don't agree and that I need your permission to get any of this thing going... so what do you say?"

"Suuure... whatever makes you happy Nudge." I said, patting her on the shoulder and trying to appear as though I knew what she was talking about.

I really should've listened to her...

_You're going to regret that later._

...Okay...

"Nudge, did you say something?"

No one replied. Surprised I looked around, only to find that the hall was completely empty.

Then who the hell just spoke to me?

_That would be me, Max._

Oh crap. I'm crazy. I'm really, officially crazy.

* * *

><p>"Hey Max, you okay?" I vaguely heard Ella ask.<p>

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Fine."

I was still hung up over that... well... _voice _in my head. I'd heard it a few times since the assembly. Mostly during class to tell me the right answer, for which I was grateful, but honestly? A _voice? _

As if I didn't already have enough on my plate.

It was then that a horrible thought struck me; _What if the voice was from the School?_

It could just be another way for those bastards to mess with my already straining sanity.

"Max? Max? Max! Max! Max? Max?"

"Huh?"

"You alright? You seem to have been zoning out a lot recently... you look kinda stressed."

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

None of them looked convinced.

Ah crap. Now they were going to go and bug me about why I'd been so quiet and hadn't even tried to insult one of them yet.. They may not know me that well, but I think even they could tell that I was acting a bit off today.

"I'm going to go and... buy some... fruit juice... yeah." Okay. Worst excuse ever.

They didn't believe it at all either.

"Oh... kay... you go do that. Buy your... fruit juice..." Said Ella.

She sounded a little bit weirded out.

Wonder why.

I sighed and stood up, making my way over to the fruit juice. To be honest, I didn't really want any (Cause that wasn't obvious) I just wanted an excuse to leave.

On top of the fact that I haven't slept very well ever since Jeb... died, I had a voice in my head and I'm fairly certain I might be making friends (Doesn't sound like a bad thing, but when you're me, you need as little tie-downs as possible in case you have to make a break for it) as I was unscrewing the cap from my fruit juice, someone decided it would be a good idea to shove me out of the way.

Needless to say, they're once white tank top and mini-mini skirt was now orange.

"You _bitch! _I can't believe you ruined this outfit! Do you _know _how much this cost? A lot!"

I raised an eyebrow at the snotty redhead in front of me, unfazed by her yelling and apparent anger.

What's she gonna do? Stab me with her high-heels?

"It's your own fault. Everyone knows that if you're a bitch like you, eventually karma is going to come back and bite you in the ass."

Her eyes widened in a 'I can't believe she just said that to me' way.

"Come on Lisa, we have to go. We're going to be late for the student meeting!" One of her blonde silicon minions whispered to her.

"Whatever." She said to the girl, "I have to go now, I have people to see and things to do-"

"Don't you mean people to do and things to see?" I cut in..

"That's what I said. But anyway... you better watch yourself. If you're not careful, you'll be so much of an outcast here at school, not even your own mother will want to talk to you. I can make your life a living _hell._"

God, are all queen-bee's so dramatic?

_Max, _The voice warned, _Don't get involved. Just turn around and walk away. You should be trying to lay low- you get anymore attention and people will be talking about you. That's all the School needs to be able to find you._

Ah shoot. I hate it when my imaginary friends make sense.

With a sigh, I turned around and began to walk away.

_Began to._

The thing is, she'd apparently still been talking to me, I'd just zoned out to much to hear her, and I don't think she appreciated being ignored.

So what did she do?

She threw her salad at me.

Yeah...

I don't really remember much after that, except a lot of screaming and some bright flashes of light... all I know for sure, is that when I came around again, I was sitting in the principals office with Lisa next to me, her nose gushing blood and her doing her best to keep it in with the flimsy paper tissues the school provided.

I blinked a few times.

What the hell had just happened?

I tried to think back, stretching my memory as far as it could go...

Okay, I vaguely remembered screaming like some sort of animal, throwing myself at Lisa and punching her in the nose... I suppose that would explain why she's bleeding.

Huh.

I've never zoned out during one of my fights before.

After that though, not much was clear. Although I do think she actually did try to stab me with her high-heels and I do _sorta_ remember Fang jumping in to try to pull me off her.

Idiot shoulda known better then to try. I'm fairly certain he's got a black eye now.

From what I can see of him sitting outside the office...

"I am very disappointed in you Max. Now, I'm not sure _what _you were taught at your old school, but here at Leafton Prep, we expect the uttermost respect between not only teachers and students, but also just among the students themselves. As this is your first offence, I'm willing to let you go with just a warning-" The principal droned on.

Lisa opened her mouth, undoubtedly to object to the fact that I wasn't going to be getting any sort of punishment.

Oh yeah! Hi-five for being the new kid...

No?

...Okay...

"-But as for you Lisa, this is the third fight you've been in this year, now I _know_ you've been the 'victim' in all of them, but it seems that along with everyone of them there have been witnesses claiming that you threatened the attacker first. Now, is this true?"

Attacker? Victim? _Witnesses?_

My god, what was this school? A crime lab?

"Max, you are free to go."

I grinned at him, ignoring completely Lisa's sniffing and sobbing, the soothing sound becoming only background noise.

Yeah, I just said soothing.

So I like the sound of people crying, big deal.

"ZOMG! Max, I can't believe you beat up _Lisa! _She's like, the student president and whatnot! Was it fun? Did you hit her for me like I asked? You might not have heard, there was a lot of people crowding around, to be honest, I think a lot of them have wanted to hit her for a looooong time. I know I have... So? Are you in trouble? Have you been suspended? Will you be expelled? Oh my god! Max I don't want you to leave! I can't replace you! You're already one of my best- hey. Where'd she go?"

I really am the master of stealth.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, thought this might be a good place to finish.<strong>

**And for those of you wondering, the plot line should start kicking in (Not in a major way, but it'll still be there) around the next two, three chapters..**

**Although planning isn't my strong point, I still have a rough idea where I'm going with this which is good. [She actually has no clue]  
><strong>

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: You read the bottom A/N (Or any of them) then review and tell me... what you would call yourself if you were to change your name.**

**P.P.S: I will try to get the next chapter out soon... ish... [She means she'll do it the next time she gets bored]**

**[P.P.S. Salut mon ami! I am TGG, the editor! I'm awesome. Luna, you delete this note and I will hit you with a book tomorrow, and I'll make sure it's a thick one. [Lol, that's what she said!]**


	12. Chapter Ten

**Disclaimer: Yeah... When I take over the world, steal all toothbrushes and the rights to MR then I will let you know... until then, all of this *Gestures wildly around fanfic* belongs to JP. Except the plot that is. That is mine. :) [And slightly mine cause I helped with a couple of ideas. _And_ I helped edit this chapter. -TGG] **

**Hola. :) (YAY! DOUBLE DIGITS!)  
><strong>

**BIG THANK YOU TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHO'S REVIEWED, FAVOURITED, ALERTED AND JUST GENERALLY THOUGHT THIS DIDN'T SUCK! YOU GUYS ROCK SO MUCH I WROTE THIS IN CAPITALS!**

**My chapters seem to be getting longer- hooray! **

**Yeah... this is _kinda_ a filler. Sorta. Not really. It is important to the plot later on, and it kinda introduces some FAX (Grasping at straws there...), but... meh.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Ten:

A tree was an uncomfortable place to hide.

Aside from all the obvious things, like branches poking you in the most tender of places, leaves trying to shove themselves up your nose and the roughness of the bark against your skin, he had also discovered that they seemed to smell rather bad on top of all that.

Not that it mattered of course, if all went well, he could leave this tree, these uncomfortable clothes; hell, even this entire state, far behind him..

All he had to do was follow her.

That was what they said.

After her last tail had gotten himself fired for being to... enthusiastic about his job (The guy was a known pedophile and suspected rapist... the Director had made the wise decision that this job was probably best left for someone with the majority of their sanity) and so he was stuck doing it for him.

_Stick to the girl like glue._

Those where his instructions.

_If you lose her it'll be your ass on the line. _

The words had been running around his head all day. Nothing he could do would dislodge them.

As he watched, perched in his tree, with a plaid rug spread over his lap and some soppy lettuce shreds stuck to his camouflage T-shirt from lunch earlier, the girl he was supposed to be shadowing walked out of school.

_Max. _That was what they'd said her name was.

_Maximum Martinez._

Other than her name, there really wasn't that much they knew about her.

He'd managed to memorize her entire file in less then ten minutes.

_Maximum Martinez; 16 years of age; Experiment number: 83921; Batch number 9; Successful; ID number: 332._

That was pretty much all of it. Aside from the basics there wasn't much on her.

Apparently some big-shot scientist had double-crossed them and deleted all of her information.

That wasn't important though, the important thing was that she was powerful.

They said it was possible that her and the others could be the only things able to stop them.

And as such they themselves had to be stopped.

He watched as she wandered down the road, earplugs in, probably listening to some sort of rock band.

She looked like the type for that.

It wouldn't have been worth watching too closely, nothing out of the ordinary. Except for the fact that it was 12:43pm and he knew for a fact that there was no half-day at her school for three and a half weeks.

Following her had proved to be much harder then he had originally thought it would be. If it weren't for the fact they knew where her current address was, he would've lost her countless times.

She was good he had to give her that.

But he was better.

A voice called out from behind, and she turned, still within his sight range, but only just. If she made it around the corner before he'd had enough time to get to her he probably would've lost her again.

Violet eyes took in every detail of the girl who approached his target.

Her mocha colored skin, the way she seemed to talk non-stop, all her behaviors and mannerisms.

This was not good.

If rumor was to be believed and the rest of them were together, then all he needed was for their secrets to be uncovered and it would all be over.

He couldn't let that happen...

There was only one thing he could do really.

Time to arrange another disappearance.

* * *

><p>It is well known that when I get an idea in my head, I do not let it go.<p>

Unfortunately for me, that seems to be a family trait that I inherited from my mom.

She still hadn't let up about that fight I got into with the preppy redhead (For which I'd been suspended for two days).

And that was last week.

Damn. I think I may actually miss Jeb. He wouldn't nag me about it, he'd just do the same thing he did every time I got into a fight at school, make sure my form was impeccable and that the School was still far off our tail with all the new publicity.

_Max, _The voice said, _It is healthy to feel, let it all out. You can't keep all your emotions bottled up all the time._

Watch me.

I'd gotten used to having the voice around, although sometimes I accidentally answered it aloud. So far I'd decided that if it was some sort of tracking device from the school, it wouldn't have A) Given me advice on how to avoid the bloodthirsty whitecoats out for my well... blood, and B) Kept my current location a secret from said whitecoats.

Speaking of which, it seems my old paranoia issues have been creeping up on me again (Is it just me who finds that sentence ironic?). Lately I've hardly been able to sit still with how quiet it's been..

People tried to kill me about once a month when I lived with Jeb. It was a regular thing, like some kind of cycle, predictable like the transformation of the moon. Yet, recently, I hadn't seen _one _Eraser. It made me nervous. Especially since I had no doubt that they knew where I was.

"Hey Max-"

I jumped, spinning around and automatically getting into a defensive crouch.

I can't believe I've gotten so sloppy as to let a 13 year old motor mouth sneak up on me.

Wow... things are worse then I thought.

"You alright? You've been edgy for days now... I'm starting to think that you think something bad's going to happen." Said Nudge, probably one of the shortest sentences ever spoken by her.

"I do think something bad's going to happen... it's just a question of when and how bad."

She stared wide-eyed at me.

Okay, that really wasn't the best thing to say to reassure her.

"Um... what I meant was, uh... I'm sure I'm just being paranoid." Not really. Not one of the instincts I've had (Especially about bad things that were about to happen) have ever been wrong. "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!"

Still, no reason to tell her that.

"Oh... okay then..." Damn. I really scared her. _That_ has to be the shortest sentence I've ever heard her say.

"Oi Max! You coming to school today?" Iggy shouted from the porch.

"Duh! Why do you think I'm up this early otherwise?"

Walking to school with Fang and Iggy had become habit for Ella and I.

As much as I hated to admit it, I think that my feeling of hatred towards Fang may have been a bit unwarranted.

I mean, sure. He's still and asshole. And a player. (The two things I hate most in the world aside from whitecoats and needles) But he wasn't that bad a guy. I'm sure if you were friends with him he would be alright. Maybe.

I won't bore you with the details of the walk to school. It was the same as always recently. I had no major epiphanies while I was walking, other than how different everything looks up close and on the ground as opposed to far away while you're flying (I'd been taking regular flights in the woods out back of Dr. M's veterinary clinic).

In fact, nothing exciting really happened until just after third period..

I was walking along on my way to fourth (Science... *Shudders*), when I came across a dodgy looking janitor's closet from which some pretty strange-sounding moans where coming from.

I know what you're thinking, 'Just leave it alone Max, everyone knows what goes on in there.' Unfortunately for me and my poor eyes, I did not.

And me, being me, automatically assumed that someone was being hurt in someway.

So I yanked open the door.

It's safe to say no one was being harmed.

Actually, Lisa looked like she was enjoying herself quite a bit.

My first thought was about what kind of poor desperate looser would go to _Lisa _the school renowned slut, for their kicks?

My second was that the guy in there looked kind of like...

My third was not really appropriate to put down here.

Fang's eyes snapped open and latched onto mine, his lips still firmly planted on Lisa's. If that's what you'd call it anyway... I now understand why they call it 'Sucking Face'... she looked like she was trying to eat him.

I felt my face flush red, my eyes bug out and my jaw drop.

The bastard didn't even have the dignity to pull away.

Well, he didn't really get the chance, since within the few seconds it took to open the door and figure out who it was, I'd slammed the door shut and started sprinting towards the nearest bathroom, sure I was about to vomit.

"Hey Max." A voice said and gently tugged me to a stop.

"Hey." I said in response.

My voice sounded far away, I barely registered that it was Sam, my biology partner, who'd stopped me.

"Umm... well, I was just wondering," He said, scratching the back of his head nervously. "If, maybe you'd like to go on a date with me Friday?"

"That sounds like fun." I said.

I didn't noticed what he'd just asked, I didn't notice what I'd said in reply, I was acting entirely on autopilot, unable to shake the weirdest sensation of _betrayal _I felt whenever the image of Fang and Lisa popped into my head.

"Great. So I'll pick you up at six?"

"Yeah. Awesome." I blindly took the piece of paper with his number written on it, having no idea (And not really caring) what I'd just agreed to.

It didn't hit me until four-thirty, when I was sitting on my bed, staring at the wall and pretending to do algebra.

_Shit._

I had a _date _on Friday.

* * *

><p><strong>As I said, filler-ish.<strong>

**Ah well, next one should be better.**

**WORMoverBOOK. [And The Gallagher Girl]**

**P.S: You read any of the A/N's, review and tell me your favourite flavour of pizza... I got into a discussion about this with my friend. She likes Meat-lovers [Nothing is better :) -TGG], I _love _Hawaiian. :)**


	13. Chapter Eleven

**Disclaimer: You'd think they'd get it by now... I don't own MR. However, I do own a pair of bubblegum blue fluffy socks I like to wear in winter... that's got to count for something right...?**

**Hey... **

**Merry Christmas! And happy New Year... um... I'm sure there are a billion other holidays happening around this time so I'll let you personalise the message. :)**

**Here: Happy _! **

**Sorry about the long wait, I'm really not the most punctual person... I have realised I am a procrastinator, and embraced it. :P**

**Yay!**

**I now own a pair of shoes! (Not kidding, I haven't owned actual shoes in about a year and a half... I just wear my jandals and school shoes... which don't count) And the best thing?**

**They're tennis-ball green!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"Hey... Ella. You know what to do with guys right?" I asked as I cleaned out another tray of Dr. M's famous (Or infamous depends on how you look at it) cookies.<p>

Seriously, you should try these, they are _sooo _good.

"Yeah... I guess so. Why? Wait- you've got a crush on someone don't you? Eeeepp! I knew this day would come! Just wait here, I'm going to go tell Nudge her plan to get you together with a certain tall, dark and handsome someone didn't fail!" Ella clapped her hands together and reached for the phone.

"What? No! I have got no idea what that middle part was, let alone what Nudge is plotting, but I don't have a crush on anyone..."

Cue disappointed face from Ella.

"I just have... a date."

And... there we go, screams, squeals, lots of jumping up and down (From my mother, who was currently cooking up another batch of cookies) and clapping, dancing and singing (From my Ella, who was, at that very moment, reaching for the phone again to tell Nudge I wasn't exactly a lost cause).

I really have got to get myself a new family.

It took all of ten minutes for me to be dragged from my seat at the kitchen counter, to where Nudge was (Supervising Iggy who apparently can't legally be left alone in the house after his last experiment), be squealed at some more, get some disapproving looks from the nosy lady over the fence and quickly realise how I was going to handle this in the future... if it ever happened again that was.

Ella and Nudge looked at my usual baggy hoodie, ripped jeans, duct-taped sneakers and lose ponytail with new found disdain.

"So, Max. When is this date you speak of? Who's it with exactly? Anyone I _know of_ so to speak?" Iggy asked whilst the two girls giggled in the background.

I looked at him curiously.

"Um... I don't know, Iggy. A guy called Sam, he's my biology partner."

"Oh." His face fell.

I get the feeling that there's something I'm missing. Why is it that everyone looks so disappointed when I say it's Sam...?

_Max, you are blind. _The voice stated.

"Uh. No. I don't think I am, Voice."

"You alright there Max?" Iggy asked, giving me a weird look.

"Ah crap. I said that out loud, didn't I?"

Oops.

"Yeah..."

At that moment, Ella and Nudge decided to rejoin the conversation, saving me a very awkward explanation.

The giggling had stopped, as had the squealing and the clapping.

It was only then I noticed how deadly silent the room had become.

"Uh... guys? Why are you looking at me like that...?" I asked, slightly fearful as the two looked at me with a scary, crazed glint in their eyes.

"No reason... when did you say this date was?" Said Ella, sounding suspiciously innocent.

"I didn't...?"

"So when is it?"

"Friday...? Tomorrow...?"

The two devils grinned at each other... well... devilishly.

"Excellent."

Oh no.

I was in _so _much trouble.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, I was sitting on the couch, mindlessly veggging out and watching TV, like so many others around the world, when I noticed a very creepy looking Fang staring in the window just off to the right.<p>

What a stalker.

At least I know that my ninja reflexes haven't completely disappeared, because when I first noticed the pair of really white (Or at least compared to the rest of him) eyes seemingly floating in mid-air just outside the window, my first response was to stand up and pull out my handy-dandy switch knife that I keep hidden in the back of jeans.

I may have also thrown it at his head and got it stuck in the glass.

And no, for your information I didn't miss. In fact, if he'd been standing any closer, the blade would've gone straight through his forehead.

Oh yeah.

I'm that good.

Unfortunately for me though, I'd forgotten that my wings were in plain sight, so when I'd jumped up, they'd automatically unfurled and had been completely visible for about three seconds while I threw the knife and noticed they were out.

Fortunately for me however, Fang had been to preoccupied by the knife blade that almost became a permanent residence between his eyebrows to notice.

"Holy- god, Max! It's just me! Man, what the fuck?" He exclaimed.

Well, I assume that's what he said, his voice was kinda muffled by the glass and it came through as: "Huofly! Gdog, Mflacks! It's jutufft me! Mang, phait the fuiek?"

Hehehehehe. Am I the only one who finds that amusing?

I wandered over and yanked the blade out of the glass.

"Well, why didn't you just knock on the door like a _normal person?" _I shouted back, ignoring the fact that was probably the most emotion I've ever heard in his voice.

"Ohmygosh! Max, what's wrong? I heard yell- why do you have a knife?"

"Oh gee, I don't know! Why is the creepy guy from next door stalking us through the window?"

"What?" Ella looked at the window, from which Fang had conveniently vanished. "Max, did you do this?"

She pointed to the hole.

"Um... no...?"

"She tried to kill me." A voice said from behind me.

"Holy- Fang!" I exclaimed as I threw my elbow back and (Automatically) elbowed him in the stomach.

"Not quite holy, but I'm glad you think so." He gargled out.

Great.

Even when he's in Maximum pain (See what I did there...?) he still finds the time to be an ass.

I'm so pleased. (Sarcasm)

"I did not try to kill you! I looked up and saw a pair of eyes outside the window, what would you expect me to do?"

He gave me an odd look.

"Well, the average teenage girl would scream and run away. Not to mention they wouldn't own a knife like that, let alone carry it around with them."

"I'm not exactly the average teenage girl though am I?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, ew. As much as I am for you guys eternal happiness, could you please not flirt in front of me?" Said Ella, scrunching up her face in disgust.

"Gross." I fought the blush that threatened to make it's way onto my face at the mention of us flirting.

Well, we weren't... were we?

"Yeah." Fang agreed, "She's not really my type anyway."

"Right, you like someone with red hair, big boobs and no personality." I stated.

He blushed (Point one to Max... I made the emotionless rock blush!) and mumbled something unintelligible.

I rolled my eyes and plopped back onto the couch.

"Go away Fang, I'm busy."

"Uh-huh." He replied dryly.

"It's true... I have lots of important stuff to do." I huffed, turning my attention to the news report about two missing children.

"..._have been missing approximately a week now, with no indication as to where they may be at this current moment. The children's parents, Claudia and Michael Knox are, understandably, distraught over the mysterious disappearance of Angel and Zephyr (Otherwise known as Gazzy or Gasman). The police urge anyone with information on this and the many other similar cases to come forward." _A picture of the two flashed up on the screen, along with the number you where supposed to call if you had any information.

"It's weird, apparently there's been like, twenty-something other cases almost exactly the same. Same age, same children, same sort of neighbourhood. Those two are really cute too." Ella said close to my ear, studying the picture of the two blonde haired, blue eyed children.

"Yeah..." Was all I said.

Something about their disappearance struck with me... very fishy.

Well, I mean, of course it was, they'd been kidnapped almost certainly, but the fact that they seemed so happy in the picture, smiling and laughing at the local playground, seemed to make it all the sadder.

Especially because I couldn't get the feeling that I'd seen the playground before.

"Bye." Said Fang.

I jumped again.

Of course I'd forgotten he was there.

"Bye." Ella said at the exact same time I let out a: "Wait."

He raised an eyebrow at me.

Man of many words that one.

"Why did you come over here in the first place? Or where you just doing your normal thing and stalking the neighbours through their window?"

He started foot shuffling.

Suspicious... only thou with something to hide shallth doth the ancient foot shuffle-eth.

Yeah... bed time for Max soon.

"I um... don't remember." Liar.

"You better be going home now anyway, it looks like your mom's looking for you." Ella cut in, giving him a knowing look.

Dammit!

Why does everyone else get to know the secrets around here? Is there some sort of sign that says: "Do not tell the Max anything?"

Humph.

The Max shall sulk now.

_Max, I think it's time you go to bed. You seem to be tired-er then you realise._

Shut up voice.

"Bye!" I grinned to Fang, waving cheerfully.

He looked really creeped out.

What? He was leaving! I had reason to be happy.

* * *

><p><strong>Hmmm... not the best...<strong>

**Ah well.**

**I will post the next one... sometime...**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If you read the A/N, tell me your favourite: left or right? (Random I know, but still.)**


	14. Chapter Twelve

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride... on the other hand, I have intel that the new MR book (The End of Maximum Ride) will be out in either April or August next year... **

**SPECIAL THANKS TO aquamisfit FOR REVIEWING EVERY CHAPTER SO FAR... I THINK... I COULDN'T REALLY BE BOTHERED CHECKING, BUT I'M PRETTY SURE YOU/THEY HAVE...**

**Oh, and for the record, I have never seen Zombie Apocalypse. Or heard of it. In fact, I'm not even really sure there's a movie called that, but you never know... I'm sure I've read about it somewhere anyway...**

**I hope you enjoy, I got this one out a lot quicker then the other one, I'm sure you'll agree.**

**Well, I got a new CD so I have inspiration to write this. :P**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>I hate sisters.<p>

I mean, what good are they really?

All they do is annoy everyone anyway.

What am I talking about you ask?

Well, Ella and Nudge decided that it would be _such _a good idea if they kidnapped me, tied me to a chair and got me ready for my date with Sam.

They even had clothes that where my size.

How?

Only the gods know.

All the same, I was tied to a chair, with goop being smudged on my face, crap sprayed into my hair and even being forced into a dress.

I'm not even sure how they did all of that at the same time, considering there's only two of them and one would think they would need both hands and undivided attention to whatever they where doing, but no.

They still managed to get me into a dress.

_While _I was tied to the chair.

However, unbeknown to them, I was currently slicing through the ropes holding me to the (Very uncomfortable and sparkly) chair I was stuck in with my trusty switch-blade.

Yes, the one and the same that almost ended Fang's life.

Not so trusty then methinks.

"Okay, Max. You can get up now. You're all done! It took a while and a lot of effort, I mean, it's not like you're not pretty or anything, cause you totally are, gorgeous in fact, but honestly, when was the last time you styled you hair? And have you ever worn makeup? Anyway, I definitely think you look better this way- ah, not better I mean, you looked good the other way too, but I think this way you look more... date-worthy... yeah!" Nudges voice came through the pink, sparkly (Ah! It burns!) blindfold they'd fastened around my eyes.

"Okay," I said and stood up, the ropes I'd sawed through about three seconds previously, falling to the ground.

"...Jeez Max, that was one of my good scarves! Do you know how much that cost me? An entire months worth of saving! And that's a lot believe me! Not to mention it was on sale at the time! It's going to take forever to find another one of that!"

"I hate it. Let me get changed!" I whined, tugging of the blindfold and glancing in the mirror.

"Oh, come on Max! You couldn't have looked for more then a second!" Ella pouted, her eyes widening in a suspiciously Bambi-like fashion.

"Ugh. Fine."

I turned to the mirror and actually looked at myself.

I didn't look that bad I suppose.

I mean, I was wearing a dress, high-heels, sparkles and makeup, but all in all I didn't look like to much of a slag.

The dress I was wearing was deep blue and reached just under my knees with a bow around under my breasts (Yes, it turns out I have cleavage! Who would've guessed huh?) with the straps at the top met up behind the back of my neck (Now I know Ella was the one who dressed me, because I would've heard a lot of screaming if it were Nudge... you know, with the wings and all). There was also a weird, robe-like thing that was a shade lighter then the dress and successfully covered the wings, hiding them completely from view.

My makeup was simple (Thank the gods) with sparkly blue eye shadow and light-pink lip-gloss. They also probably did something else with that blush stuff, because I'm pretty sure I don't usually look this... flawless.

The high-heels weren't _that _high (Only about an inch) but still made me feel off balanced enough that I couldn't get the edge in a fight. They were also dark blue.

So... not that bad really.

But definitely not healthy to fight in.

"No way, guys, I can't fight in this!" I exclaimed, doing a little twirl for effect and ending up in a painful heap on the floor.

Ella raised an eyebrow.

"You're planning to fight?"

I sighed.

"No," I said, slowly and carefully as if I was talking to a four-year-old. "But you never know. It always pays to be prepared."

"Uh-huh. Look, Max. Just wear it downstairs and if you don't like it, then you can change okay?"

Hmm... I sense this is a trap.

But if I don't wear it downstairs I haven't got a chance of changing without threatening them with my knife, which I don't really want to do... no cookies for a week if I do that and Dr. M finds out...

"Alright." I relented.

"Yay!" Yelled Nudge.

I'm pretty sure she kept rambling, but I was already out of the room by then, determined to get downstairs and up again as quickly as possible so that I can get out of this dress and back into my jeans.

I really have the worst of luck.

After harrumphing my way down the stairs, and into the living room to a hysterical Iggy (Why is he here again?) and a smiling Anne (Nudge's mum) and turning to go back and change, I ran straight into a certain infamous, emotionless, tall, black brick wall.

In other words, I smushed my face into Fangs abs.

Man, he really needs to quit going to the gym, maybe chill out and eat some potato chips or something.

As I was rubbing my (Sore) nose and squiggling my face up to prove the muscles still worked, I looked up at him, fully prepared to yell at him for being such an ass. Really, he's like an entire new class of ass... stealth ass...

I didn't get the chance however, when I noticed that he was staring at me.

And I don't mean, giving-a-once-over-from-a-distance, stare, but an actual, full on, jaw-dropped-oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-what-I'm-seeing stare.

And that was when I remembered what I was wearing.

"Uh... you-" He stopped to clear his throat, "You look good."

Wow.

Way to may it awkward.

"Thank you... now if you don't mind, I'm going to go back upstairs and bang my head on a non-moving wall." I said, gathering what remained of my dignity and trudging my way back to my clothes and my favourite new sneakers.

I had worn them especially for the occasion.

When I was properly presentable, and when I heard the bell ring from downstairs, I raced down and to the door before anyone else had the chance to open it and potentially embarrass me in front of my date.

Man, that sounds weird...

Unfortunately for me, I was to late.

Fang had already opened the door and was glaring at Sam who was standing nervously on the step of Nudge's porch. (Apparently she'd phoned ahead and told him to pick me up from there)

Poor guy, I don't really blame him from looking so freaked out, the glare Fang was sending him was enough to light a candle.

Shoving Fang out of the way, I smiled at Sam and made as to step out to go with him.

"Hey- where are you going?" Fang asked, getting to his feet and coming to tower over me.

"Out. And don't bother trying to intimidate me, I've got a knife." I told him, holding up my switch-blade, which he eyed nervously.

Well, it did almost land between his eyes last night.

Shame it missed really.

I smiled at Sam again (Who also looked a little bit freaked at the knife I was holding), grabbed his hand and dragged him down the steps and onto the path before Nudge or Ella could freak him out enough that he'd start running and never come back.

Kind of like Forest Gump...

"So..." Said Sam, scratching the back of his head anxiously. "I thought that maybe we could go see a movie...? Then maybe go for ice-cream?"

"Uh-huh. That sounds good. What kind of movie do you want to see?"

I'm pretty sure this was awkward.

"Oh, I don't know, whatever you want to see really." He said, blushing a bit.

"Cool! I want to go see that new one with all the zombies! You know, it's about like, a zombie apocalypse or something... I dunno, but I heard it got a whole ton of flying gore! And it's 3D too! Isn't that awesome!"

He blanched at just the mention of flesh-eating zombies and flying gore.

"Okay... I suppose." He relented.

"Yay! I'll buy the skittles, you buy the peanut M&M's."

He nodded.

If you're wondering why I was talking so much, I'm pretty sure it was nerves. I mean, I'd never been on a date before and I wasn't really sure what to do.

We approached the movie counter-ticket-buyer place.

"Two tickets to Zombie Apocalypse please."

Hahahahaha...

This was gonna be _epic._

* * *

><p>"Omigosh! That was awesome! Did you see the way they killed that bloodsucker! You know, the one that was eating the second guy after the first had been turned! It was totally epic-bacon!" I rambled, completely hyped from the movie we'd just seen.<p>

Sam however, didn't seem so enthusiastic.

In fact, he looked a bit green.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked him, taking his arm and pulling him a stop.

What? He was a nice guy, even if he was a bit of a pansy.

"Fine." He mumbled. "Just needed a bit of fresh air is all.

I nodded and looked around the night, watching as the few couples around us made for their cars or went inside.

"Hey Max...?" Sam asked, sounding slightly nervous. (But lets be honest, when did he not?)

"Yeah," I replied nonchalantly, not really paying attention.

"Um... never mind."

"What?" I asked, turning to look at him.

He smiled at me lightly and leaned in to kiss me.

Ah crap.

What do I do? What do I do?

Um...

Ah, what the hell.

Might as well go for it.

I closed the gap hesitantly, awkwardly clenching my eyes and trying not to focus on how sloppy it was.

I know that in most books the girl's first kiss is all romantic and with her soulmate and all, but mine...?

It was just... well...

It was wet...

And sloppy...

Hey!

I could taste his cherry cola!

Maybe this wasn't so bad.

Just as I started to get over my cootie-phobia, I heard a dark chuckle from behind me.

"Having fun are we little Missy?"

I know that voice.

Well, not that voice specifically, but there's only one species I know that speaks like that.

As though every word has to be carefully formed but never seems to get them right anyway...

Erasers.

"Max what's going on?"

* * *

><p><strong>There you go! Two updates in one night! Am I awesome or what?<strong>

**So, if you see any mistakes, can you let me know? I'm not sure if I got them all. :)**

**Thanks for reading!**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If you read this A/N, review and tell me where you would go if you were stuck on the awkward Max-date. :P**

**P.P.S: TGG, you really need to write some more of SD. And yes, I did put this down the bottom of my story instead of emailing you like a _normal _person.**

**But what's the fun in being normal?**


	15. Chapter Thirteen

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. I do own a cat. :P**

**Hey... I'm doing pretty well!**

**Three updates in two days. (So far)**

**I mean, it is school holidays, but for ages I've done nothing more then eat and sleep (Not very healthy, I know...)**

**Sooo...**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"What's going on Max?"<p>

Oh dear.

This was not good.

"Look guys," I said to the Erasers (Who were currently in human form but still looked pretty intimidating), holding out my hands with my palms up, "As much as I would love to stay and kick your asses, I'm a bit busy right now... can we re-schedule for Saturday instead?"

The leader- lets call him Roy- growled.

"Don't you remember Max? We don't do rescheduling. It's now... or... now." He said, grinning evilly.

I could see his teeth starting to elongate and his hair get shaggier. If I wasn't careful, he was going to change and charge right in front of Sam.

And as terrible a kisser he may be, no one deserves to be eaten by Erasers.

"Max," Sam said again, his voice trembling slightly. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing. Look, do you think you would mind going on ahead of me? I'll only be a minute." I cracked my knuckles and lowered myself into a crouch for effect.

"Sure." He mumbled and tried to squeeze between two of the men surrounding us.

"Oh no you don't. Maxie, you'd think you'd know by now, we don't just let people go. It's not our style. Especially if that person has a phone and is going to use it to call the police as soon as they're around the corner." He taunted, slipping Sam's phone from his pocket and snapping it in half.

"Sam, when I say so, run. Don't look back okay?" I commanded.

It was as much for his safety as it was for his sanity really.

In order to be able to fight these geezers properly, I needed to be able to use my wings, something I was not going to be able to do with Sam standing there.

"Okay." He agreed.

Not even a thought as to my safety.

Great guy that one.

"Run!" I shouted, taking out my knife and stabbing the guy closest to me in the stomach.

He ran.

And all the others were to preoccupied trying to not get stabbed to pay any attention to what the shaky brunette kid was doing.

As soon as he'd rounded the corner, I slit the throat of the Eraser currently trying to slice me with his claws.

Seems like they weren't holding back anymore either.

"You shouldn't have done that Maxie." The leader- lets call him Roy- taunted. "With the kid there we couldn't change. The director doesn't want us revealing our identities to civilians. But with him gone we ain't gonna hold back none. You would've stood a hell of a better chance with the kid with you."

I ignored him.

I knew I had the advantage.

With a snap, I unfurled my wings, taking a brief moment to enjoy the feeling of them being stretched out to their full length unobstructed, having been cramped up all night.

"You forget, I'm the good guy. The good guy's always win." I grinned, stabbing another smelly mutt in the stomach.

Two down, three to go.

"Point to Max. Well, more like two points to Max. You guys should really get some more weapons."

Roy growled in response.

I leapt into the air, diving and twirling, showing off my full range of aerobatics for no reason other then the fact I liked seeing their faces when they realised just how much they'd underestimated me.

I sliced through their fur and muscle easily, ignoring their pained yelps as they fell. It was all part of the job.

Not surprisingly, the next time I saw Roy he looked significantly paler and started to back away wearily.

"Say bye-bye Roy." I sang as I disposed of the last Eraser.

I know what you're all thinking here, I'm really not that bloodthirsty. I don't even really enjoy doing that. It's just the exhilaration of the fight. The feeling you get when you down someone three times you size using nothing more then yourself and your skills.

Almost nothing could better it.

Well, except flying that is.

The Erasers I'd killed melted into a puddle of goo, just as they normally did when they died.

I'm pretty sure the School filled them with some sort of chemical to make cleaning up easier.

All I know is that it really stinks, and I often seem to get it in my hair.

Scowling, I looked down at my new sneakers, now ruined, covered in blood and Eraser goo.

Gross.

"Ah crap, Dr. M is going to kill me!" I worried as I flew into the air.

I'd only gotten those sneakers yesterday!

* * *

><p>"Oh my god! Max, what happened?" Ella shrieked.<p>

"Uh. I got into a fight." I said sheepishly.

Descending onto the back porch, I gave her a "Told-you-so" look.

"Max, you're bleeding!" She pointed at my arm, purposely ignoring my expression.

"Huh. I hadn't noticed. You should see the other guys though... well... actually you can, see that spot on my sneakers? Yeah... I think that one's Roy."

Ella looked at me confused.

"I thought you said you got into a fight."

"I did... I just didn't mention it was with Erasers..."

Ella and Dr. M knew all about the Erasers of course, I'd told them when I first arrived, while I was explaining why and how I came to be there.

"Max!" Dr. M shouted, racing onto the deck.

She'd obviously been alerted to my state from Ella's panicked yelling.

"It's nothing, mom, really. I'm fine." I attempted to reassure her.

It didn't seem to help though, her eyes just started watering and she sniffled hopelessly.

"You called me mom..." She smiled.

Oh. I guess I did.

Which is really not good.

It seems I've become attached to this strange band of people.

Perhaps it's the time to be leaving again.

"Huh. Well... you are my mom." I said awkwardly.

If I did decide to leave, I couldn't tell them. It would only break their hearts. Better to have them wondering what happened to me, then aware of where I am and be a possible safety risk.

"Well... I'm going to go and get cleaned up..."

I shuffled towards the stairs as Ella tried to comfort the now sobbing Dr. M.

"She called me mom... she called me mom..." She kept murmuring over and over again.

Sheesh. It's really going to kill them when I leave.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah... I know...<strong>

**On the bright side, I got this one out a hell of a lot quicker then the one-before-the-last-one.**

**And the next chapter is going to be kinda filler-ish... again...  
><strong>

**Meh.**

**I'll get right onto writing that for you!**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If you read the A/N, tell me... if you had a dragon, what colour would it be. :P (I don't know where I get these things from, honestly)**


	16. Chapter Fourteen

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. And to be honest, I'm kind of glad I don't... you all know how great I am at updating, It would take me years just to write one of the books. **

**I'M SO SORRY! **

**I swear I meant to update sooner! But for some reason, this chapter was almost impossible to write I'm still** **entirely happy with it, but I guess it'll have to do.**

**Read on! (And please don't poke me with your poking sticks)**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Fourteen:

[Fang's POV]

"Hey Ella. Where's Max? Doesn't she usually walk to school with you?" Iggy asked, smiling at Ella.

She sniffed. "She's not coming today. She's... well. Not coming."

"What happened, did you two have a fight or something?" Iggy questioned, obviously worried that his long-time crush might be feeling sad.

Pfft.

Pussy.

"No, I don't think so. Nothing more than usual anyway. I just woke up this morning and she was gone."

"You think she ran away?"

"Yeah. It seems that way. I mean, she was telling me the other night about how she didn't want to stay and put us in any more danger, but I didn't think she'd really leave." Ella thought out loud.

"How would her being there put you in danger?" I spoke up for the first time.

Ella looked panicked.

"Um, did I say that? Huh. Weird. I meant that she didn't want to cause us too much trouble. Oh, geez, is that the time? We better get going if we want to make to school before the bell goes."

She gave us a small smile and started power walking in the direction of the school.

"Weird..." Murmured Iggy, giving me a look.

"Yeah. She definitely said danger." I agreed as we started after her.

The question was: Why would Max staying with Ella put them in danger?

* * *

><p>[Ella POV]<p>

I was really getting worried.

Max hadn't called or anything. And she still hadn't shown up.

This morning when I went to wake her up, all there was left of her was the dress I'd insisted we buy her, and a note that said:

_Ella,_

_Sorry I had to leave like this. You know how it is. _

_I don't think my staying here any longer would be a good idea- which is why I've left._

_Please don't hate me, it's for the best._

_I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you got killed because of me too._

_Max._

_P.S: There is a reason I didn't take the dress- use only in emergencies._

I had no idea what she meant about how the dress was only to be used in emergencies, but the rest of it made sense.

Mum hadn't really told me how Max's dad had died, but I do know that it had something to do with someone looking for Max.

"Hey, Ella, you okay?" Nudge asked worriedly.

"Yeah," I reassured her, "I'm fine. Just a bit distracted is all. I can't help but wonder where Max is."

Nudge said something else- I think she may have been trying to console me about Max's disappearance (It was hard to tell because the next minute she was talking about some cute shoes she'd seen in the mall), but I ignored her and tried to focus back on my algebra homework.

Due in half an hour.

A hand rested on my shoulder, causing me to jump and drop my pencil.

Muttering I reached down to get it.

"You want some help there?" Asked Iggy's smiling face.

I blushed.

"Hey, don't worry, I'm sure Max will show up eventually." He said, putting a sympathetic

hand on my shoulder.

And now my arm was tingling...

Crap.

I really hope I'm not about to have a heart attack. That would suck.

"Yeah. I'm sure she will... hopefully." I mumbled in return.

Iggy glanced at Fang for a second and then grinned at me.

"You wanna go for a walk?" He asked, suspiciously happy considering the glum mood he and the gang had been in ever since I told them about Max.

"Yeah... I guess..."

Awkward much?

Of course everyone noticed when we got up from the table, Nudge winked at me in an attempt to be subtle, but I'm pretty sure that even four-eyed-Frank sitting three tables over could tell what she was getting at.

"So..." I mumbled as we made our way down the halls, away from the bustling cafeteria.

"So..." Iggy mimicked.

"Is there a reason you asked me to take a walk with you?" That was even more obvious that Nudge's wink.

I saw a tinge of pink to his cheeks (Adorable) which told me that he knew what I was thinking.

"Uh, well." He stuttered, suddenly sounding nervous.

"I was just wondering..."

Was this it? Was he finally going to ask me on a date? I couldn't help the sudden feeling of euphoria, despite Max's sudden and depressing dissapearance.

"Well, before you said that Max left because she didn't want to put you guys in danger..." He continued.

Oh.

Right.

"I was just wondering why it was that she being there would put us in danger." He finished.

He must of noticed my disappointed look, because he puffed out his chest a little and took a deep breath.

"Iwasalsowonderingifmaybeyou'dliketogoonadatewithme." He rushed out as he exhaled.

"Sure." I responded, having no trouble understanding what he was trying to say and ignoring his surprised expression.

"Really? Oh. Cool... but don't think that will distract me! Why would Max being here put us in danger?"

Dammit! Could he not just focus on one thing at a time for one moment?

I sighed.

"Well, it's a long story. Before she moved here, her dad died- was murdered actually. It was by a bunch of gang-members. They were looking for Max."

A stunned silence followed what I'd just said.

"Why would they want her?" He asked finally,

"No idea. She couldn't figure that out." I lied.

She'd figured that the School had payed them off to come and kidnap her, or that they'd heard about her wings somehow and wanted to sell her or present her as some sort of freak-show.

But I couldn't very well tell him that could I?

"Anyway. About that date. Pick me up at seven on Friday, okay?"

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah... like I said, not the best... and it took me aeons to update it...<strong>

**I will TRY to update sooner next time... but, well... you know me...**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If you've read the authors note, tell me... the stupidest thing you did when you were a kid.**

**P.P.S: TGG, if you're reading this (And I will quiz you on Monday) hurry up and write some more of SD! It better be done by tomorrow or I'm never bringing you cruskits again!**


	17. Chapter Fifteen

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. If I did, I would've organised the movie (And had it out) by now. (Although there probably wouldn't have been any books with my procrastinating issues)**

**Hi!**

**So sorry this took so long to update! I didn't realise how long it had been until _laura loom _reminded me. (Thank you!)**

**So, I wrote this really quickly and updated way faster than I told her it would be. I said it would be out by next week, but because I realised that I had absolutely no reason not to write (What with it being the holidays and all) I decided to get it out as soon as I could.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Fifteen:

Fang's POV:

I brushed a stray lock of hair from face, scowling as it only fell back into place a second later.

The wind whipped through my clothes, it was so cold it almost stung, my bare arms were numb, but it did nothing to distract me from the many questions swimming around in my head.

_Why would Max run away?_

_What did Ella mean when she said Max being here would put us in danger?_

And most of all,

_What was Max running from?_

I let out a small, frustrated growl, shaking my head and focusing on the feeling of freedom, the twinkling of stars in the sky serving as an inadequate distraction to dislodge all thoughts of Max and her disappearance from my mind.

It was weird, usually when I was flying I had no problems forgetting life's problems.

Spreading my wings and letting go.

But for some reason, Max always seemed to stick around more than anything else did.

Honestly, she's like some sort of bloody fungus.

I sighed to myself as I folded in my raven-black wings and dove towards a small, empty playground I'd spotted during my musings.

I landed gracefully, pausing a moment to let my wings stretch to their limit, enjoying the feeling- after being cramped up almost 24/7 it was pure heaven to let them out.

I heard the sound of hysterical laughter behind me.

Whirling around, I folded in my wings and crouched into a fighting stance.

It was Max.

She was sitting on a swing, facing off to my right. It was clear she hadn't noticed me, in fact she seemed determined on ignoring everything around her.

Her face was covered in dirt, that much was obvious even in the poor lighting the grimy streetlights provided. Blood was smeared on her clothes and a bulging Nike bag rested by her feet.

I watched, intriqued as she leaned back her head, closing her eyes and spreading out her tawny-brown wings behind her, she looked like an angel.

…

…

Wait. Hold up.

Am I the only one who realised something wrong with that last sentence?

Max has _wings?_

It was impossible, I knew.

Iggy, Nudge and I were the only successfully created winged mutants- or at least, the only ones who escaped the school.

It was impossible, but yet I could see her, stretched out in the faded orange glow, wings behind on her back and a small smile on her face.

I stepped forward.

A snapping twig must have alerted her to my presence, because the next thing I knew, she was a foot in front of me, crouched down in the fighting stance I'd been in less than a minute ago.

"Fang?" She asked, a cute, confused look crossing her face, causing her nose to wrinkle.

Wait- forget that part.

"Fang?" She asked, straightening up and looking suitably confused.

There. Much better.

"Max?" I asked, the disbelief obvious even to myself.

"Yeah." A look of panic entered her eyes for a second, before she snapped her wings in.

"You've got wings." I stated.

"Uh... yeah." She scratched the back of her neck awkwardly.

"You've got... I mean... you're..."

"Yeah. I know." She said, biting her lip and glancing at me to see my reaction.

A smile crossed my face and before I knew it, I was grinning like an idiot.

She babbled on in the background, oblivious to my growing excitement, in attempt to explain why she'd run away, how she'd ended up with all the blood on her clothes and why she had wings in the first place.

"So have I." I said, surprising her enough to shut her up.

"What?"

"I've got wings too."

"Okay Fang. I think you've had a little shock here and are probably feeling a little light-headed, am I right?" She asked, taking one of my arms and leading me to the swing, "Why don't you just sit down for awhile?"

I shook her arm off, ignoring the tingles her touch sent shooting up and down the length of my forearm.

"No, seriously. Look." I stood up, stretching out my wings and smirking slightly at her apparent look of shock.

"Impossible." She muttered.

"Obviously not." I said smugly.

How I manage to be smug at a time like this, amazes even me. I guess my ego really does know no bounds.

"But, but... Jeb said I was the only one ever successfully created. He said that's why they hunted me... I... don't understand."

She shook her head stubbornly.

"Well, this is just more proof of why I can't stay." She said, marching over to her swing and grabbing her bag.

"What? Why can't you stay?" I demanded, taking hold of her arm, secretly enjoying the warmth it gave off.

"Because. The Erasers killed my dad, now they're coming for me. I'm not leading them here, especially if there's something to catch their interest. Like you for interest. I stay, we both go back to the school and everyone we knows dies. I don't know about you, but I'd rather that didn't happen." She looked me straight in the eyes, silently daring me to stop her.

"So? We can fight them off. Ella's distraught that you've left her. Even Iggy asking her out hardly cheered her up. Nudge has been quieter than usual, Iggy's hardly said a word-"

"What about you?" She asked evenly.

"Uh.. well, I guess I sort of missed you too..." I mumbled.

She smirked.

"But only because you're the only one I can annoy properly." I added quickly, not wanting her to think it was anything more.

It wasn't after all.

So what if when Ella told me Max had run away, my first thought was that I was going to miss the way she laughed, the way she smirked at me, the way she had a habit of zoning out...

It meant nothing.

Simply that I was more... attached to her than I was most of the blond-haired bimbo's at school.

"I have to go now Fang." She looked at me expectantly.

I stared back at her, suddenly aware of how close we were standing, I could almost count the freckles on her nose.

"Can you let go of my arm now?" She asked weakly.

"Nope." I mumbled, leaning even closer.

"Why not?" She whispered.

"Because there's something I have to do first." My gaze flicked down to her lips, then back up to her chocolate eyes.

"What's that?" She asked breathlessly, her eyes starting to flicker shut.

"This."

With that, I leaned down and kissed her.

It was just as incredible as I had imagined- not that I'd done that (a lot) of course.

Her lips were soft and full and I could literally feel the fireworks all those corny movies spoke about.

I was just about to deepen the kiss, when she made a small noise of protest and pulled away.

"No." She said, pulling back and pointing a finger at me.

"Bad Fang. You're not allowed to do that." She said, running a hand through her hair, a habit I'd noticed she had when she was nervous or confused.

Ignoring the fact that she'd just spoken to me like some sort of dog (To be honest, I wasn't really up to processing it at that moment), I inconspicuously licked my lips and looked at her.

"Why not?"

"Because... you just... can't..." She said exasperatedly, "It's weird," She finished.

I frowned.

Had she not felt it?

"I'm going to go now. And you are not going to follow me. If anyone asks, you didn't see me here tonight. And also, if anyone happens to ask, which I doubt they will, I don't have wings, understand?"

I nodded mutely.

"Good. Maybe we'll meet again Fang, maybe we won't. But when you see Ella can you tell her to look in the pocket? It occurred to me that the message was probably a bit to vague for her to understand."

I nodded again, standing there powerlessly as she spread her wings, and with one last look at me, shot into the inky sky.

* * *

><p><strong>Like I said, so sorry it took so long.<strong>

**But I did include some Fax, and a snippet of Fang's POV, so I hope all is forgiven.**

**It did actually make me feel nauseous writing that *Shudders* _romantic_ scene, so I hope you're happy. :)**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If you read the authors note, tell me... the one thing you can't write no matter how hard you try. (By that I mean a genre... like I can't write romance)**


	18. Chapter Sixteen

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. Seriously, by now you'd think they'd get the message. Does JP check his email methodically every five minutes? Well, probably. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm not him. :P**

**Another chapter. **

**A special thanks to FunkyIsMyMiddleName, for being awesome and inspiring me to write this chapter. (Even though it took me so long to actually write it) :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Sixteen:

[Max's POV]

I could not believe that just happened.

Seriously, what the _hell _was that?

I mean, me and Fang? We do not _kiss. _

Really.

You put us in a room together and you're lucky if we don't kill each other.

So what was that?

I closed my eyes and replayed the moment in my mind.

I was sitting on the swing of a random park I'd noticed while I was flying. Blood, mud, Eraser goo and sweat covered my clothes and skin.

Safe to say I wasn't smelling like a bunch of roses either.

The voice was talking to me, telling me how I couldn't abandon my friends, how we were destined to meet.

I laughed hysterically at that point.

Screw destiny, I had enough problems without having to worry about some fictional force mucking everything up for me.

It wasn't long after that when I realised there was someone behind me, I spun around, crouching down to a fighting stance and preparing to get more goo on my shoes.

It was Fang.

I remembered how surprised I was to see him there, I stood there shocked, but not nearly as shocked as he seemed to be.

Then I realised my wings were in plain sight.

Ah shit.

After a lot of awkward conversation and me trying to explain to him why I had wings, he decided to drop a bomb of his own.

"I've got wings too."

And he did. They were black, glossy and seemed to be about 12- 14 feet across.

I couldn't have stayed. If he had wings, then I was putting everyone in even more danger. The Erasers would hunt me down and find out about Fang. If they knew there were two winged mutants, then they would do anything to get their grimy paws on us and I doubt they'd have any qualms about hurting, or even killing everyone we knew.

So I did the rational thing and told him I had to leave.

...And then...

The bastard had to go and kiss me.

I mean, sure- I maybe, might have, sorta, almost liked it- but that was beside the point.

So what if my brain had practically melted in to a puddle and I had totally been kissing back before I realised what had happened?

That meant nothing.

_Nothing._

I still had to leave, fly to another state and probably live off McDonald's dumpsters until I was old enough to get a job flipping burgers. Or maybe I'd just stay on the run for awhile longer than that. Maybe I'd wait until I was thirty with severe trust issues, paranoia and claustrophobia until I decided to settle down.

That was, if I lived that long.

"You really should pay more attention when you're flying, Maxie." A guttural voice teased from somewhere off to my left.

I blinked as my mind re-focused on reality.

Erasers. Maybe fifty of them.

I was surrounded.

Considering my options (Fight, flight or fall) I gazed around the circle of hairy oafs hovering jerkily in the air around me.

Hang on.

Erasers couldn't fly... could they?

I had never come across flying Erasers before, perhaps they were a new model.

It would make no difference anyway. I would beat them. I had to.

"You would think you would've learnt to give up by now. Numbers aren't going to make any difference you know. I can still fly better than you jerks."

The leader smirked.

"But you haven't met our secret weapon yet Maxie. Don't worry about introducing yourself, he's been following you for weeks. He probably knows you better than your own mother."

They had been stalking me?

Of course, how could I have not thought of that?

"I'm afraid you won't be able to meet him until a bit later though. Go ahead," he spread his arms open wide, gesturing to the many growling onlookers, "Do your worst."

Instantly, I shot forward, my foot sinking into the soft flesh of a random Eraser's chest so hard I could hear the bones snapping and cracking.

This seemed to spring the others into action.

With a howl, another hairy fool launched himself at me. I eyed him, flexing my muscles and preparing for a fight. Unfortunately for him, Eraser flight was far from perfected. He flew straight past me, crashing into a small group sputtering awkwardly in my direction. Grabbing his wing as he sped past, I twisted it to hear a satisfying howl of pain.

I went through the actions of fighting, functioning on autopilot and watching as Eraser after Eraser howled and hurtled towards the green square of forestry below.

There couldn't have been half of them left when I felt it. A sharp pain in my back that dulled the exhilaration and blood-lust I was feeling.

Apparently, while I was occupied, the leader had sneaked up behind me and broken one of my owns wings.

The pain was incredible. I would have rather had a million white-hot needles in my eyeballs.

I screamed, unable to fly anymore and was blearily aware I was falling, air was whistling past my ears and barking laughter before I hit the ground, crushing my other wing in the process.

Thank god the School at least had the sense to make me durable.

A fall from a height that would kill a normal person would only damage me. As it was, the fall had crushed a wing, broken one of my arms and quite possibly caused some sort of internal bleeding, but at least I was alive.

Of course, that wasn't what was going through my mind at the time.

I groaned in pain, feeling the bliss of unconscious approaching.

A pair of men's boots crunched towards me and I was half aware of someone talking to me.

They crouched down in front of me, looking straight into my eyes and saying something that may have been "Sleep".

The last thing I saw before I succumbed to the blackness was a pair of violet eyes...

* * *

><p>[Fang's POV]<p>

Something was wrong.

I didn't know what, I didn't know why, but something was terribly wrong.

I'd awoken from a deep sleep with thoughts of Max swirling around in my mind. Dreams fading and new worries and fears replacing them.

One of my wings ached dully, the repercussion of sleeping on my back for too long.

After my flight and brief encounter with Max, I'd flown home, grabbed the phone off Iggy and related Max's message. I didn't say how I'd gotten it, just handed the phone back to Iggy, who immediately got that lovesick grin on his face.

God, I hope I didn't look like that when I looked at Max.

Er... not that I was in love with her or anything. It was just a kiss.

_Sure Fang. Whatever you say._

Stupid inner voices.

Anyway, after I'd given the phone back to Iggy, I'd slouched straight up the stairs and crashed. Mum thought I was getting a cold. Iggy teased me about missing Max. Dad thought flying through the wind had tired me out.

I had ignored all of them, simply shutting the door in their faces and going back to sleep.

After about an hour of sitting in the dark of my room, trying to figure out what I was going to do now that the only girl I'd ever really _liked _had quite literally sprouted wings and flown away.

I settled on the only rational thought.

Or at least, the most rational at the time.

I was going to get her back.

First chance I got, I would rally the flock and together we'd go after Max.

* * *

><p><strong>Well...<strong>

**There you go.**

**I checked the story plan just before, and I realised how close I am to finishing this. Which should give you some sort of reassurance that I'm not going to abandon it. It may take me aeons to update, but with the end in sight, I'm not going to give up! (This inspiring speech was made possible with help from the electric blanket. The only thing keeping me sane [And warm] this winter)**

**Will try to update sooner, but you should know by now that I say this every chapter and it rarely ever actually happens.**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If you're reading this, tell me the one thing you can't stand people doing. (For me, it would be repeatedly asking the same question, singing if they can't sing and being overly cheerful. Well, there's more, because I don't particularly like people in general, but I can't be bothered mentioning them)**


	19. Chapter Seventeen

**Heh-heh...**

**Umm...**

**Ooops.**

**I swear I meant to update sooner. But for some reason this was really hard to write until I de-stressed after having a big science test.**

**So, sorry about the late update... *Looks sheepish***

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Seventeen:

[Fang's POV]

I couldn't stop thinking about Max's face.

She looked so sad in my mind, so helpless and lost.

Sure, in real life she didn't look like that, but there was still something hidden in her eyes, something that hinted that maybe she wasn't as happy or as carefree as she pretended to be.

And now I knew why.

I sighed and rubbed my aching temples.

It was mid-afternoon the day after I'd last seen Max. I had a raging headache, and nothing I could do would dislodge her from my mind, I couldn't forget the kiss that we'd shared. Or the way she looked in the moonlight.

Uh. Okay. Forget that last bit.

Anyway, I couldn't understand why I had just let her go so easily.

I'd delivered her message to Ella as I'd promised, who looked very confused and then very happy (So happy in fact, that she forgot to actually ask where I'd gotten the message from), disappeared for a bit and then reappeared looking very worried.

Which really didn't help my state of mind. Which seemed to be slowly disintegrating.

Something bad had happened. I knew it.

Which was why I was now standing in front of the flock (And Ella, who was sort of an honorary flock member), trying to convince them we had to go and find Max.

"But Fang, Max ran away. She doesn't want us to find her." Ella said, twisting her bangs around her finger anxiously.

"Well, duh. I mean, isn't the whole point of running away not being found? If you wanted to be found, you wouldn't have run away in the first place. Unless you're really little, but then it doesn't count does it? I ran away when I was little once, I only got to the corner though, then the creepy bus driver from down the road saw me and dragged me back home." Nudge rambled.

"You could be right, but I can't shake the feeling that something bad has happened to her. I mean, come on. It's been three days, what are the chances she's managed to stay out of trouble for this long? We need to go and find her." I pleaded.

Iggy gave me a knowing look.

"What makes you so sure that something bad has happened? And why are you suddenly so eager to find her? I thought you hated her," Iggy said, " What, did you suddenly realise you like her more than you let on?"

My glare was enough to frost his eyebrows.

"Yeah. I mean, what was that about the other day? You just randomly walked up to me and told me to 'look in the pocket'. I know you're trying to do the whole mysterious thing, but really? Come to think of it, how did you even know about that, let alone know to look there...?" Ella puzzled.

I winced.

I still had no idea what was actually in the pocket. Or why Ella would care about it. Or what

even which pocket of what Max had been talking about.

It seemed the only thing to do was to tell them. Not the whole thing obviously. Just the stuff that concerned them, like how I saw her in the park and how she had wings. There was absolutely no reason to mention the kiss.

I felt my cheeks flush just thinking about it.

"Umm..." I began awkwardly, shuffling my foot along the ground.

"Fang," Ella growled, "spit it out."

Wow. She could be scary. I guess she and Max really where related.

"Well... It turns out... I could have... Imayhaveseenher..." I mumbled.

"You_ WHAT?" _Ella yelled.

"I saw her. The other day. In the park." I repeated more clearly.

"And why didn't you tell me this...?" Ella asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"She told me not to mention it." I answered.

"And so why are you?"

Good god, was there no satisfying this woman?

I shook my head in exasperation.

"Why do you think? Er, look. That's not the only bomb I'm about to drop here, so I suggest you brace yourselves for this next one."

Pause for dramatic effect.

"Max has wings."

Shocked silence.

"Ha. Nice one man. Seriously, what are you on? Max doesn't have wings, we're the only successful mutants remember?" Iggy said, slinging an arm around a suddenly uncomfortable looking Ella.

I raised an eyebrow.

"You knew?"

"Um. Maybe. But what was Iggy saying about... oh my god! You guys have wings too? Where the hell are all these mutants _coming _from?" Ella joked.

Hm... maybe we should tell her... but hadn't Max already told her about the School?

"There's no time for all of this," I pointed out, "Max is missing and we're all just sitting around waiting for the grass to grow."

"What makes you so sure she's missing? She ran away remember?" Iggy crossed his arms and gave me a look that clearly said 'I'm not letting you get us caught because you have a crush on some girl."

I scowled.

"Max is _not _just 'some girl'." I growled.

"And I don't have a crush on her." I added quickly at everyone's stares.

"Uh-huh." Iggy said dryly.

"Fine. You guys don't have to look for her. But I'm going to." I said, turning to walk out of the room.

"Don't be stupid." Nudge said.

"Yeah... you know we're not going to let you go alone." Iggy said, uncrossing his arms and rubbing his temples.

"Yeah? Well, I really don't seem to have much choice do I?"

"Duh. They're saying they're going with you doofus." Ella said, standing up and slamming a piece of paper with a number scrawled on it into my palm.

"Here. Take this with you. It'll probably help you look for her." She said.

"Thanks. Um. What is it?" I asked, turning the paper to see a familiar looking handwriting before placing it carefully on the table.

Well, I use the term handwriting loosely. It looked a bit more like a chicken had a spasm and was holding a pen at the time.

Obviously Max had written it.

"It's Max's emergency cell number. To be used only in emergencies as the name suggests." Ella said. "But I guess it counts as an emergency when Fang's going through Maximum withdrawals."

Everyone laughed at that.

I had to admit, even I appreciated the pun.

Until I got what it meant.

"Hey. No fair. That's so not true." I frowned.

"Whatever." Nudge said. "We have to go find Max now, because I just tried the number, and it doesn't seem to be working. Well, she's not picking up anyway. That's bad right? I mean, if she thought that you'd only call her in emergencies, then this would have to count as an emergency, right? So if she's not picking up when there's a possibility you're calling to tell her that you need a kidney transplant ASAP, then she's obviously in some sort of trouble."

She was right. _I_ was right.

Max was in trouble.

"Well then?" Iggy asked, jumping to his feet, "What are we waiting for?"

* * *

><p><strong>Heh.<strong>

**Like I said, sorry for the whole late update thing. **

**Only approximately 14 chapters to go! (Yeah, when I said the ending was close, I may have over-exaggerated a little bit)**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If you're reading this, tell me the most awesome thing you've ever received as a gift. (I kinda need to buy my dad a birthday present... so... fishing for ideas here...)**


	20. Chapter Eighteen

_**Smartypants86- I hate it when that happens! There was one time where I couldn't log in for almost a full day. I don't know why, but it fixed itself the next day. The annoying thing was that I found a really good book and I couldn't add it to my reading list. And then I couldn't remember the title. Probably should've left that tab open...**_

**Um...**

**So not much to say this time...**

**Except that I have no idea how you would actually find a phone so that bit is totally inaccurate. I think. I kinda bluffed my way through that bit.**

**Oh, and I wasn't sure if Death Valley is actually in Arizona, but for the sack of this making sense, lets pretend it is okay? :P**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Eighteen:

[Max's POV]

I felt like I was floating.

Voices echoed around my head, faint memories of a fight and a pair of violet eyes.

I tried to open my eyes, but they felt like they were glued shut, clogged with some sort of jelly-like gunk.

A steady beeping sound was all that I could hear, my limbs felt heavy and my mind was filled with fog.

The sound of footsteps warned me of someone's approach.

"She really is beautiful isn't she?" A voice said.

It sounded almost familiar. Perhaps I had heard it before in a dream?

"It almost makes me sad to see her in this state." The voice was soft, melodious and sounded like the owner was somewhere near my knees.

"Don't get too attached 571. You still have a job to do." Another voice spoke, cold, disinterested.

An alarm bell rang in my mind. There was something about the way they spoke, about the number and about my situation... something important that I should remember.

_What was it?_

* * *

><p>[Fang's POV]<p>

"Nudge, have you got anything from that cellphone?" I asked, pacing around the room in frustration.

"Not really. It doesn't seem to have been used and it's off at the moment so I can't track it's signal anyway. There really isn't much I can do concerning location if it's turned off and it's really difficult to even narrow down the area she's in if it's never been used before." Nudge, resident computer genius told us, tapping away furiously at her laptop.

I sighed.

We'd been at this for hours and still hadn't gotten anything.

No one else seemed to think we'd be finding her anytime soon, Iggy's excuse being that Max really didn't want to be found, Ella's being that she was to smart to just give away her location and Nudge's being that she could be anywhere by now. For all we knew, she could be hiding out in China.

I must admit, even I was starting to lose hope.

"Hang on a second... the phone just turned on."

I spun around, staring at the birds-eye-view map we had open.

"Well where is she?" I asked impatiently.

"Give me a sec," Nudge said, tapping away twice as fast, "I've almost got it... there we are. Max is... in Death Valley? What would she be doing there? That's almost where the School is..."

I watched the map spin and furrowed my eyebrows when I realised she was right, the little cross showed her to be in the middle of Death Valley Arizona.

"Maybe she dropped her phone?" Iggy asked, coming up behind us.

"She wouldn't be that careless." Ella said, rubbing her arms worriedly.

"It could have dropped out when she was in a fight? I mean, I know she's pretty careful and all, but even she could lose a phone when she's 80 feet above ground fighting with lupine-human hybrids." Nudge pointed out.

"True," Ella said, "But Erasers can't fly."

She scrunched up her face in confusion.

Ah.

One of these days we really have to tell her we've got wings too. And that we also escaped from the School. And somewhere in there we may want to add that she's dating a guy that has blown up several buildings for kicks. I mean, she thought he was a pyro before?

"Did I even tell you about Erasers? How do you know-"

"-Hey kids. I thought I'd bring you up some cookies since you're working so hard on your project." Dr. M. interrupted.

Nudge whirled around, slamming down the computer screen.

"HI DR. M!"

"Umm... hello Nudge. I'll just leave these cookies on the bed if anyone wants any." She said, backing out of the room with an odd look at Nudge.

"What was that all about, Nudge? I know you can be enthusiastic, but that was a little bit over the top even for you." Iggy questioned, grabbing a cookie and pushing the door shut with his foot.

Honestly, what was with mothers and their inability to close doors?

"Yeah, it's not like what we're doing is illegal." Ella said, sitting down beside Iggy.

"Yeah... about that... heh." Nudge rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. A sure sign she had lied.

Great.

"It's worth it though, because now we know where she is, and if she's in Death Valley then the School's obviously got her. Now we -cough- Fang -cough- can go and rescue her. And then she'll love us -cough- Fang -cough- and we'll -cough- they'll -cough- live happily ever after." Nudge rambled.

I rolled my eyes. Typical Nudge.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear most of that... but Nudge is - mostly- right. We have to find Max because the only place she could be in Death Valley is the School and the only reason she'd go within five miles of that place is because she's been taken there. Forcefully."

"Yeah, yeah." Iggy muttered. "So how do you plan we get in there anyway, lover boy?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"Don't call me that. I hadn't actually planned past you guys agreeing to come."

"Of course we're going with you. Aside from the fact that Max is my sister and mom's distraught she ran off, you guys are my friends... even you Fang. We'd never let you go alone." Ella said, putting an arm around Iggy.

"Yeah. What she said. Only from my point of view. Besides, we went through too much at that place to let you go back there without us. Knowing you you'd probably manage to pick up some other mutant instead of Max." Nudge said, playfully punching me in the arm.

Ella looked confused again.

"I would not," I scoffed, "I think I would know Max when I saw her."

"That's because you luuurrve her." Ella teased.

"I do not." I mumbled, feeling my cheeks go slightly red.

"Sure, sure. So what's the plan? And how do we get to Death Valley in the first place. I don't know about you guys, but I don't have wings like Max does."

We all looked at each other.

"About that..." Iggy began.

* * *

><p><strong>So...<strong>

**Yeah.**

**Um, well that chapter wasn't the best, but the next one will be when they get her out of the School. **

**Heh.**

**Yep...**

**WORMoverBOOK.**

**P.S: If you read this, then umm... tell me what you think will happen when they get Max out of the school. (Hehehe... bet you'll never be able to guess...)**


	21. Chapter Nineteen

**This is a pathetic chapter for the amount of waiting you've done. I know, sorry. I would make excuses, but there really aren't any aside from I got stuck on this chapter and then I forgot about it... heh...**

**Enjoy this chapter if you can, the next one will be out sooner than this took, I swear. **

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Nineteen:

[Fang's POV]

"I can't believe you guys didn't tell me you had wings! _Wings! _I mean, that's not exactly a small detail you could just forget to leave out!" Ella shrieked.

"Which is exactly why we didn't tell you. We knew you would freak out like you are now. What did you expect us to say anyway?! 'Hi, I'm Iggy, I'm fifteen years old, and oh! By the way, I have wings, blow things up for fun and am currently being hunted down by a race of lupine-human hybrids!' Something tells me you wouldn't have responded well to that." Iggy said, waving his arms around wildly in the air to demonstrate his point.

Ella was silent for a second. She stared at the floor sullenly.

Her bottom lip started to tremble.

Oh no...

"B-but why couldn't y-you ha-have just told me? I th-thought we were fr-iends." She sobbed.

Why?

Of all the people Iggy could've chosen, why'd it have to be the one that cries every time you yell at her?

Max doesn't cry... she yells back.

Iggy spluttered, looking helplessly at me. I shrugged back at him. How was I supposed to know what do to when girls cry?

I was usually the one making them cry, not mopping up the tears.

Nudge rolled her eyes and sat besides Ella, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.

"You understand why we didn't tell you, don't you, Ella? If we had then we would have put you in danger. And none of us want that to happen. Especially Iggy. We wanted you to have a normal life for as long as possible. Plus we weren't sure if you could handle all of this. Most people would have a complete freak out when they found out their half-sister with wings had shown up on their doorstep after seeing her father murdered. And then finding out that the people she'd lived next to for six years had wings too? We should have known you'd be able to deal with it though. You're strong. Sorry for not telling you." She said, in a soothing voice.

Ella stopped crying.

"You really mean that?"

"Of course we do. You're one of our best friends... well, more for some of us." Nudge sent a meaningful look towards Iggy.

"Okay, um. I suggest we get back to the point of us telling you all of this. Max, your _sister _is currently being held against her will by a bunch of mad-scientist whitecoats. Am I the only one who thinks that maybe we should get to her as soon as possible?" I asked, hesitant to break through the whole 'bonding' thing they had going on, but seriously wanting to get a move on.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Ella sniffed, dabbing at her eyes with a sleeve.

"So what's the plan, Fang?" Iggy asked, wiping the plate clean of any remaining cookie crumbs.

"Well, first we have to get there... which will almost be easy... except for Ella. The majority of us can fly, but I don't think that carrying her while we do would be a good idea. Aside from the fact that she'd be hundreds of feet off the ground with no seatbelt, I have a hard time carrying groceries when I fly, no offence Ella, but I think you'd be a little bit too heavy."

Iggy looked at me curiously.

"You know, I only just realised this, but I'm pretty sure that this is the most Fang has ever talked. Ever. Even when he had to do three minute speeches in school I don't think he talked this much..." He trailed off and turned his head to the side slightly. "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" He demanded.

I rolled my eyes.

"Maybe I should just stay here..." Ella said timidly.

I looked at her in surprise. I had, of course, been thinking that all along, but had been hesitant to suggest it just in case she blew up at me.

"Um... yeah. That could work," I said, trying very hard to look like I hadn't secretly been trying to mind-manipulate her into suggesting that (I _knew _I had mad mind powers! Iggy, you now owe me twenty bucks).

"I'd probably just get in the way. And breaking and entering _is _your forte, right guys?" She asked, "I mean, I know she's my sister and I do love her it's just-"

"We get it, Ella," Nudge said, "we'll make sure to get her out of there."

I nodded in affirmation, rubbing my hands together thoughtfully.

Now that we had the basics out of the way, it was time to plan the specifics.

* * *

><p><strong>Once again, so sorry you had to wait that long for a filler chapter. I'm terrible at this updating thing...<strong>

***Sighs* Next one will be out as soon as possible and it will be about Max. :)**

**Review if you feel like it.**

**WORMoverBOOK.**


	22. Chapter Twenty

**:D**

**Told you I would post it sooner! I'm so proud of myself for updating this quickly. Although I'm sure I'm not the only one to notice that I have a habit of doing this- updating after forever and then updating again really quickly before leaving it for ages again. **

**Meh.**

**I'm trying to get better at this.**

**So this is sort of a filler chapter, but it does tell you some things... I meant to get further during it, but I suppose the escape will have to be in the next couple of chapters.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Twenty:

Max POV:

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

_I opened my eyes that were still thick from sleep. At once I tried to close them, the harsh electrical lights made different coloured stars dance on the back of my eyelids._

_The dripping continued._

_I groaned and opened my eyes again. Slowly this time. As I adjusted to the familiar surroundings, there was a rustling from the cage beside me. _

_That was strange. It was empty before._

_I attempted to turn my head to the left to see what the noise was. But it ended up flopping limply. Like a dead fish. They'd worked me particularly hard yesterday. My body ached all over. I could still hear the sounds of the horrible man-beasts they called 'Erasers'. Feel the sensation of someone with super-human strength kicking you in the gut. Smell the worst mix of salty sweat and metallic blood. _

_My eyes focused, and I saw a young boy sitting in the cage. He was dressed in a hospital gown, just like me. He had black hair and dark eyes, that appeared black in the bright white lights of the School._

_He looked back at me._

_Neither of us said anything._

_The dripping continued._

_The strange boy shuffled around a bit, trying to get comfortable. I could've told him it was useless, these cages were made to be uncomfortable. I would've. If my voice had been working. But it wasn't. _

_My throat was thick and dry, and my tongue felt like lead in my mouth._

_My eyes widened in shock as I caught a glimpse of something on his back._

_Not just something._

_Wings._

_Black, smooth and pinned unnaturally behind his back, they looked to be about three feet across._

_I couldn't believe it. I wasn't alone. There was someone else out there like me._

_There was a scuffling outside the door, as the white-coats started to file into the room._

_Our eyes connected. And in that moment, I made him a silent promise._

_We would get out of here._

_We would stick together._

_We would survive._

_The boy's eyes held unspoken terror, his skin was pale and I could easily see the red welts stamped all over his body._

_I swallowed as best as I could, shuffling back in my cage as two white-coats approached me with a small tray of the goop they called 'food'. It was high energy, high protein, but it tasted like radioactive dirt._

_The white-coats slid the tray though a small slot at the bottom, only just big enough for it to fit through, and moved back to get the tray for the boy next to me._

_A small plastic pottle of water sat on the tray and I reached for it instantly, momentarily uncaring of the many drugs and medicines I knew were in there, just wanting something to drink._

_The boy beside me shifted again, probably reaching for the food he'd been given._

_I drank the water in one gulp and turned my head to look at him._

_He was looking at the food with a disgusted look on his face, he hesitantly took the water before pushing the rest of the food away from him._

"_Eat it. You'll need the strength." I said, my voice raw and the words feeling unfamilar in my mouth. _

_It had been awhile since I'd spoken to anyone._

_It had been awhile since I'd had anyone to speak to._

_He looked at me a second, probably trying to judge how long I'd been in here, before taking my advice._

_We weren't given any cutlery, knives and forks were considered a risk, so the only way to eat the food we were given was to slurp it up from the tray like some sort of animal._

_I did this, not caring about how I looked, just grateful for some sort of substance to fill my hollow stomach._

_The boy caught my eye again._

"_What's your name?" He asked. _

_I considered for a few seconds._

_My name?_

_I didn't think I could remember._

"_My ID number is 332." I told him, somehow knowing this wasn't what he wanted to hear._

"_But what's your name?" He asked again._

"_I don't think I have one," I said, going back to slurping up my radioactive mud, "but I think I'll call myself Maximum. Sometimes the white-coats call me that." I continued._

"_Okay Max. My name's Fang." He said, giving me an almost smile._

_I stretched my mouth into what I hoped resembled a smile and not a grimace._

"_Fang." I repeated, liking the way it sounded._

_Fang._

_His name was Fang._

I woke with a start.

Well, as much of a start as one can manage when they're living life as a vegetable.

I tried to connect the dream I'd just had with the life I'd lived before I was here.

I knew it had something to do with who I had been, but I just couldn't remember what it was.

The whole mindless state that I was in was really starting to annoy me.

I mean, I like floating in a tube full of jelly as much as the next person, but I couldn't get rid of the feeling that I wasn't supposed to be there and that what ever I did, I shouldn't let my guard down.

It hadn't been that long since I'd come to conciousness and had decided that there was something I was supposed to remember. However, remembering that there is something to remember and actually remembering what that something was, are two completely different things, despite how it may seem.

I had no way of keeping track of the time either, which I meant that for all I knew I could have been stuck in that place for a year and had no idea.

I hadn't been gone that long though, if I had Fang would've come looking for me.

Wait.

Fang. His name was Fang.

Fang, with long black hair and deep, dark eyes. Fang, with big black wings and an almost smile.

Fang my friend.

Fang my... well. Fang.

Just like that, everything comes flooding back to me; Ari killing Jeb, having to go live at Ella and Dr. M's house, the Eraser fight at the movies with Sam, Fang finding me and kissing me in the park, the fight with the flying Erasers just before I blacked out...

I was in some serious sneakers.

In my mind, blacking out during a fight to the death with a bunch of flying mutts and then waking up in a tube full of muck meant only one thing: I was at the school.

I heard my heart-rate speed up (I had figured out a while ago that the constant beeping was a heart monitor) and tried to calm my raging thoughts.

The beeping in my ear slowed to a normal (Well, for a mutant bird-kid) rate.

I had to figure out a way to escape.

To me, being at the school was worse than being dead.

Hang on a minute.

That gives me an idea...

* * *

><p><strong>So I'm sure you can all guess what she does next. <strong>

**I was going to continue, but this seemed like a good place to end the chapter to me. **

**Um...**

**Yep.**

**Reviews would be appreciated (Seriously, me and TGG [That's TheGallagherGirl for those of you who don't know] were talking about this the other day; no one reviews on fanfiction anymore. I remember the good old days where you were pretty much guaranteed that at least one out of three of the people who alerted/ favourited your story would review, but now you're lucky if you just get someone pointing out a spelling mistake. :( Man, that makes me feel old... "remember the good old days...?" I'm ancient :P)**

**Phew, minor rant there. :P**


	23. Chapter Twenty-One

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Although the last book would've been better if I did (And if I could write a bit better…:P)**

**For those of you who like to point out plot flaws, I am aware that this chapter is pretty unbelievable… I just couldn't really think of a way to make the break-in of the School seem realistic, so I figured this would do. Besides, this chapter less about the break-in and more about the big realisation/ revalation-ey thing at the end. :P**

**Okay, enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Twenty-One:

Fang's POV:

The day was insanely clear and warm, contrasting the air of gloom and doom that hung over us like a heavy grey cloud as we flew through the blue sky.

Wind ruffled my hair and my feathers. It made it painfully obvious how hard we were all trying _not _to talk about what it was we were about to do.

As far as plans went, ours could definitely use a little bit of refining. But we didn't have time to do that, so we'd just have to make do with what we had.

I couldn't shake the feeling that Max was in need of our help and that if we didn't arrive soon, something bad was going to happen.

Well, okay. Something _worse_ was going to happen. 'Cos really, if she'd been kidnapped by a secret society of evil-genius/ mad-scientists and was being held captive, going through god knows what kinds of torture and I _didn't _count that as something bad then we were all doomed.

However, as it was, all things seemed to be going well enough.

I spied the grey concrete building, erupting from the desert ground like giant zit. The building stretched out over at least an acre, with several smaller buildings scattered around the outside. It was surrounded by a mesh (Electric if I remember correctly) wire fence that looked to rise at least 30 feet in the air. Of course, with the variety of mutants the School was coming up with these days, 30 feet wasn't enough, so it had also been covered with more mesh (Also electric). No doubt the fence extended another 20 feet below the ground and was sealed off there too, in order to stop the more ballsy mutants from escaping via tunnels.

Wondering how I knew all of this?

Well, I had spent eleven years of my life there after all.

I don't remember much about my time at the School to be perfectly honest. All the days seemed to blend together.

I do remember that there was one thing that stopped me from doing anything stupid like choking myself to death with my own collar (That's right... they gave me a collar). There was this one girl there, she was the same age as me and had the biggest brown eyes.

When I first arrived I thought she was an angel.

She used to talk to me, even though I never said a word back. She'd tell me stories of some of the other mutants that had come and gone, give me advice on how not to end up like the one who had been plucked from his cage in the middle of the night for 'disorderly behaviour' and had never returned.

She kept me sane.

I remember that one day, she smiled at me like she was the happiest person in the world. She'd grinned at me and whispered, "Today's the day. Today's the day we finally get out." A scientist had come by her cage later on with a needle the size of Mt. Olympus and left a few minutes later, the girl limp in his arms.

I never saw her again. I don't know whether or not she got out alive, I doubt it though. I never even knew her name.

I smiled sadly to myself. She reminded me a lot of Max.

Iggy coughed loudly, bringing my attention back to the present moment.

"Um... Not sure if you guys noticed this but I'm _blind. _I have no idea what's going on down there. Are we at the School yet?"

"We're here." Nudge said solemnly. A record breaking short sentence for her.

"You know what to do." I told Iggy.

He nodded.

"I do. I'll see you at the other side, brother." He spread his wings dramatically and swooped towards the ground, the small packages falling like droplets of water before exploding, massive balls of flames and smoke bursting forth in quick succession.

Nudge and I had landed behind a large, conveniently placed (Considering there were no other options of things to hide behind) flat rock. Iggy thumped on the ground behind us, struggling to keep his hysterical laughter contained.

Sometimes I really do worry about that boy.

Almost instantly, scientists spilled from the buildings, alerted to the 'danger' by the screaming sirens.

This was what we had been waiting for.

We all took off, sprinting at full speed (It was too dangerous to fly because of all the dust the continuing explosions were giving off) towards the school.

We had brought wire-cutters, but thankfully, genius mad-scientists were not as smart as they seemed to think; they'd left almost every single gate open. I wasn't complaining though, it made our job easier.

We stood, admittedly a little bit awkwardly, in a hallway of one of the complexes, wondering where the hell we were supposed to start.

That would be where the plan became a little bit hazy. We'd figured out pretty much everything _except _how to actually find her.

We were really hoping for a miracle there, it wasn't like we had the time to search every single room for Max.

Oddly enough, just as we were about split up and try to do exactly that, a familiar brown-eyed girl came barrelling around the corner and bashed straight into me.

"Ohmygod!" Nudge screeched, "it's her!"

I stared down at the girl in my arms, hardly daring to believe the luck.

"Guys," Iggy warned, "we need to be going now..."

I nodded in agreement, taking Max's arm and pulling her along.

She followed without complaint as we hightailed it out of there, racing out of the back entrance and launching ourselves into the air just as we noticed the angry-looking whitecoats filing back in through the front entrances.

A few minutes later we were sweeping through the skies, the wind in our hair and smiles on our faces. Iggy and Nudge were grinning madly and laughing about what we'd just achieved. Their impressions of the whitecoat's expressions even managed to get a laugh out me.

Safe to say we were all riding a pretty big adrenaline rush.

Max however was quiet, she kept looking at the rest of us, confusion written all over her face.

By the time we landed, got Max out of her paper surgery dress and into some real clothes and found Ella, she looked positively puzzled.

"Max!" Ella shrieked, running forwards to give her sister a hug, "I'm so glad you're back! I know you probably wouldn't have wanted those guys to risk their lives for you and all, but I'm so happy that you're okay!"

Max frowned.

"Who's Max?"

We stared at her.

"You're Max." Said Iggy.

"No… my name is Maya…"

What had they done to her in there? Had they somehow managed to wipe her memory and convince her that she was actually someone else called Maya?

"No, you're Max," I said, "You came her to live with your mom and half-sister Ella after your dad Jeb was killed. Don't you remember?"

She shook her head.

"I was born in that place... I've never been outside it until now."

Nudge swore loudly.

"We got the wrong one!" She said, sounding understandably distraught.

"What are you talking about Nudge?" Asked Ella, "That's obviously Max!"

Nudge looked at her apologetically.

"I never told any of you this, but when I was younger, I heard the whitecoats talking about clones… they said that there was one experiment who was particularly difficult to handle and they were considering making a clone of her so that they could train the new here to obey them. She would still hold all the other properties of the real girl so she would do as a substitute, but the behavioural stuff was learned so theoretically she wouldn't know that her life was horrible and try to escape."

We all stared at her.

"What was the subject number?" Not-Max asked.

"83921."

For once Nudge's photographic memory comes in handy for more than just studying and remembering fashion tips from magazines.

"That was Max's ID number… she told me when she was explain how she got her wings." Said Ella, confirming what was already staring us in the face.

"Wait, what did you say the number was?" I asked disbelievingly.

"83921."

That was the number on the cage next to mine. The one with the girl in it.

I stared at her open mouthed.

It was her.

No wonder Max reminded me of the girl, she _was _the girl.

"Wait," Maya raised a hand in the universal indication of 'stop'.

"Are you telling me I'm a clone?"

We all looked at her. There was really no need to tell her. She already knew.

"Wait, wait, wait…" Said Iggy, interrupting Maya's mini-freakout, "We seem to have forgotten something extremely important … If Maya is here… then Max is still in the School."

"We have to get her out." I said.

"We tried that, remember? We can't exactly do what we did last time. As thick as the whitecoats can be, I don't think they're going to fall for that again." Iggy, the voice of reason, pointed out.

Ella looked crestfallen.

"So we just leave her there to rot?" She asked, her eyes watering slightly.

"No," Maya spoke up, "We're going to bust her out. I may not know who this girl is, but she obviously means a lot to you, so… I'll help you. Besides, if it weren't for you guys I would still be in that hell-hole. I basically owe you my life."

Ella nodded looking a little bit more reassured.

"But that still doesn't answer the question of _how _we're going to break her out, we're back at square one."

* * *

><p><strong>I am so sorry that took so long to get out. Fang's POV is so difficult to write… andI know that it was pretty short for the amount of time you had to wait... I would honestly not be surprised if a lot of you guys had stopped reading this because of how long it take me to update... I know I do that sometimes. : (It just gets so hard to remember what happened...) **

**I would try and tell you that the next one will be out sooner, but I do that every time and it basically never happens so…**

**HAHA! There you have it… the thing I said you'd never guess! **

**They broke out Maya instead of Max. **

**Awkward much…**

**Anyhow, you guys know the drill, I tell you this often and I'm sure you read more fanfictions than just mine…**

**Review!**

**Comment!**

**Add to favourites/ alerts if you haven't already! :)**


	24. Chapter Twenty-Two

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride… but I did get a new computer! *Does happy dance then falls on face like fool***

**Special mention to "Wolf and MR Lover" who gave me the idea for this chapter… I had all but forgotten Max and her awesome skills until she reminded me. **** (I'm assuming she's a she, most on here seem to be)**

**And also a shout-out to "Monolainia" who actually pointed out some spelling errors and the likes… she was very helpful **

**So here is the chapter where Max breaks out of the School… or is it...? Nah, It is. (Or is it?)**

**Dunn, dunn, dunn….**

**You'll have to read to find out. :P**

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Twenty-Two:

I focused my mind, trying desperately to do the impossible.

A while ago there had been some sort of commotion. What it was I had no idea, but I could tell it worried the whitecoats. All at once there had been banging and loud noises, and then an eerie silence, almost like the whitecoats had left and I was alone.

But that was impossible. I hadn't been left without at least one guard since I arrived in this hellhole.

My mind was still hazy however, and by the time I had realised that the quiet could mean I could put my plan into action and escape, the whitecoats were back, collecting their research and acting like nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

I had missed my opportunity. So I would just have to make another one.

One particular whitecoat had taken to talking to me while he filled out his charts, muttering to me about his (many) problems and how he wished his boss would recognise how well he was doing and give him a promotion. He was obviously new.

If I could just figure out how to communicate him, I was sure I could use him to my advantage.

_I could help you there._

Oh great, now I was hearing voices, it was definitely time to get out of there.

_My name's Angel. I'm an experiment just like you only I can read minds as well. I can help you escape if you'll take me and my brother with you._

Was this some sort of trap? A test designed to measure my trust or empathy?

_This is no test. I can help you. But only if you help us._

Well, it's wasn't like I had anything to loose. There was always the possibility that this was some sort of test from the whitecoats, but it didn't feel like something they would've come up with. Besides, if there was a chance that this girl was telling the truth and she and her brother were trapped her just as I was, I was willing to try and help them escape.

_Okay,_ I thought, _I'll help you. But I need you to something for me first._

_Of course._

I explained the plan to her and told her what I needed her to do. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do if she really was a part of the School, but I didn't really have a choice and she seemed genuine to me.

_Here we go… ready Angel?_

_Of course, Max. _

I calmed my mind and relaxed my body, slowed my breathing and tried to do the same thing to my heartbeat.

It was now or never…

I was vaguely aware of the beeping sound in the background slowing down until it was just a constant drone, and the sound of panicking whitecoats confirmed that my plan was working.

The next thing I knew, the jelly surrounding me was being drained and I was surrounded by fresh air. Well, as fresh as air gets in the School.

I did my best to appear limp and lifeless as the whitecoats fussed over me, removing various tubes and taking tests.

_Now, Angel. _

A scream erupted from one of the whitecoats and as predicted, everyone turned to look at him, momentarily forgetting about the mutant lying on the table in front of them.

I opened my eyes and was temporarily blinded by the dazzlingly white lights over my head. The whitecoats were paying no attention to me, instead focusing on their colleague who was now screaming and waving his hands around his head like a madman. I couldn't help but grin slightly at the scene as I took the opportunity given to me and sat up, sneaking off the metal slab I was lying on and trying not to feel too self-conscious about the (rather revealing) paper dress I was currently sporting.

With a quick thank-you to Angel, I started off down the corridor at a slow lope. I would've been much faster, but spending an unidentified amount of time in a giant tube full of goo had made my legs a bit shaky. Still, I thought I managed quite a decent pace considering the circumstances. That was, until I reached the first intersection. It was then that I realised I had no idea where it was I was going.

I knew I was aiming for outside, preferably a place with no fences so that I could fly away, but unfortunately for me, there was no handy sign with a 'you are here' star in the immediate vicinity.

It was obvious what it was I was going to have to do and I couldn't help but wince at the idea of asking for help again so soon. However, my pride aside, the situation I was in probably counted as one of life and death. It was lucky enough that I hadn't run into any other whitecoats already.

_Angel, I need you help again. _I thought, trying to project my thoughts so that she would hear me.

_What is it, Max?_

_Do you think you'd be able to direct me to where you and your brother are being held? And then outside?_

I hadn't forgotten my end of the deal. She helped me escape, I helped her escape.

_Yes._

I followed Angel's directions, turning left and right and ducking behind large, conveniently placed trolleys full of empty cages while whitecoats rushed past, yelling to co-workers about an escaped mutant and remaining completely oblivious to the fact that the very girl they were looking for was three feet away from them.

Eventually I turned into a corridor that ended at a set of double doors, the kind you'd see in a hospital right before you entered surgery.

_We're right here, Max._

I paused for a second. This could still be a trap. There could be hundreds of whitecoats waiting for me behind those doors, armed with needles and prepared to make me run until I couldn't feel my legs under threat of electric shock.

_Hurry, Max. We have to get out of here._

I shook my head to dislodge any thoughts about giant needles and Erasers. Angel and her brother were mutants just like me. They wouldn't set me up. They needed me to help get them out.

Without another thought, I pushed open the double doors and raced along the rows of mostly empty, metal cages, looking for anyone who'd look… I don't know, familiar…?

"Max! Over here!"

I switched directions and ran towards the voice, coming to a halt beside a pale little girl of no more than seven wearing a paper dress a lot like mine. Her tiny hands gripped the metal bars and her hair was matted and hung limply from her head like clumps of damp blonde seaweed.

"Are you okay?" I asked, unable to help but worry for this fragile looking girl.

"I'm fine. My brother's in the cage over there." She pointed across from her into a cage with a boy that looked a lot like her who was lying crumpled at the bottom of his cage, his skin clammy and his limbs bent at awkward angles due to the little room he had.

"You'll help us won't you?" She asked desperately.

I didn't know what to say. I wanted to help her, but her cage was fastened shut, and it looked like I may have already been too late to save her brother.

"I know what you're thinking," she reminded me, "and he's not dead. I can still hear him." She tapped her head to prove point.

"Okay," I said, "But I need something to open these cages… do the whitecoats keep keys anywhere around here?"

Angel shook her head.

"They keep them on their belts. You'll still help us won't you? You have to help us. There's no one else-"

"Angel." I interrupted, "I'm not going to leave you. If I can't use the keys then… where do they keep the needles?" I asked, an idea taking form in my head.

"Over there," she pointed to a silver trolley lined with trays that was sitting a few cages away from us.

"Tell me when any whitecoats are near, okay?"

She nodded.

I grabbed a tray lined with different sized needles and hoped that what I was about to try was going to work.

"The scientists are all out looking for you," said Angel, "I doubt they'll be coming back here any time soon. They would never guess you'd come here. They'd think you'd aim for outside straight away."

I gave a distracted sound of agreement as I moved the needle-ends around in the lock.

It was going to work. It had to.

Sure enough, the lock made a slight clicking sound less than a minute later.

I grinned and swung the door open, leaving Angel to help herself out of the cage as I moved on to her brother.

She made a small sound of relief as she stretched her muscles.

A minute later her brother's cage was also unlocked, but I knew we were getting short on time. I reached in and prodded him lightly, hoping that he would suddenly wake up ready to fight, but no such luck. He simply frowned slightly in his sleep and twitched his nose.

I sighed to myself. I really didn't have the energy to be carrying around a ten-year-old, but there didn't seem to be any other option. I reached in to rearrange him so that I could pick him up when my hand met something bony and suspiciously feathery.

My eyes widened.

He had wings.

I turned around to Angel in surprise, her brother limp in my arms.

Her wings spread out behind her, about five feet long and snowy white.

I stared in shock. Stupidly the first thing that came to mind was how she really did look like an Angel.

"We should leave." She said, jolting me out of my daze.

"Yeah. We've already pushed our luck enough." I decided not to ask about the wings at the moment. At least it would make our escape easier. And her brother _was_ a lot lighter with hollowed bones.

"His name is Gazzy." Angel said randomly as we darted down a hallway, her in the lead.

"Huh? I asked intelligently.

"My brother. His name is Gazzy."

"Oh. Wait, you're those two kids from the news?!" All the pieces fell together.

The sudden rise in child abductions the past few months. My dad's death. The School's search for me.

Evidentially they were working on something big. Which generally meant something evil and painful considering the School's history.

I had to stop it.

"No, Max, what are you doing? We have to go now!" Angel had stopped and turned to look at me with a pleading expression on her suitably angelic face.

"You know what it is they're working on don't you? Surely you heard someone thinking about it?"

Angel looked torn. I could tell she wanted to help, but her and her brother had obviously been through hell the past few weeks and I couldn't blame her for wanting to get the hell out of there.

"They're trying to figure out a way to make mutation contagious." She finally said. "They figure if they can make everyone some kind of mutant, the human species would be stronger, better. It's called Generation X."

I tried to swallow the information. How was that even possible? Mutation couldn't be contagious. Could it?

"No. It couldn't. That's why the modified the plan slightly to make it a biological agent that would spread itself through people and their travelling. They're going to release it here, in the form of gas."

I stared at her.

"Angel we have to stop this."

"I know, Max, but there's no guarantee that it would work. They're still years away from figuring out a formulae and even then… the chances of it actually working are slim to none."

A plan began to form in my mind. Only this time (probably due to hanging out with Iggy a little bit too much) it involved exploding something.

Gazzy began to stir in my arms, mumbling something unintelligible before his eyes fluttered open.

He started suddenly and began to flail.

"Gazzy!" Angel said, calming him down instantly, "This is Max. She's going to help us escape."

He looked up at me with a small frown on his face and I set him down on his feet a little bit awkwardly.

"Are you sure this isn't a trap?" He asked warily.

"Yes. She's like us."

Gazzy stared at me for a minute, and as well as making me increasingly uncomfortable and more aware of just how thin the paper dress I was wearing was, it also reminded me that we were currently having this conversation in the middle of a hallway with no form of cover anywhere nearby. If a whitecoat were to walk around the corner, we would be doomed.

"Angel, Gazzy, I need you to do something for me. We'll leave after this I promise, we'll leave and go as far away as we possibly can."

Angel and Gazzy looked at me hesitantly. Angel seemed reluctant to get distracted from the idea of escape and Gazzy still didn't trust me.

"Okay…" Angel agreed cautiously.

"Great. I need you two to go around and free as many mutants as you possibly can. Angel, you saw what I did with the needles, right? If you can't get hold of any keys, do that. When you've freed them all, tell me, then run okay? Run as fast as you can and then fly when you're outside."

"Okay, Max. Be careful." Said Angel.

"I will. I promise." I said, smiling at her softly.

The two of them ran off together, glancing over their shoulders at me every few seconds.

I waited until they were out of sight and then considered exactly how I would do what I was planning. Once again, a plan made by Max would need more thinking through.

I really should start thinking things through before I decide to do them.

* * *

><p><strong>Who can guess what it is that Max is going to do?<strong>

**I'll give you a hint… she does something similar (if not basically the same) in one of the MR books.**

**Yay! I updated faster!**

**This computer is much nicer to type on, so hopefully that will work in your favour… (Although as I have said many times before, I update once then again relatively soon and then leave it for about four months… I'm terrible… :/)**


	25. Chapter Twenty-Three

**Disclaimer: I did not write Maximum Ride. Thankfully. I would not want the hate-mail that came along with the last book. I mean, what's up with that ending?**

**WORMoverBOOK: Hey guys! So um, a friend wrote the majority of this for me, 'cos I was suffering from extreme writers block. Plus I hadn't planned this bit that I kind a just randomly added in, so yeah… anyway, I thought the authors not she wrote to me was pretty funny, so I had to include it. :P**

**Enjoy!**

**Oh, and for those of you who don't know (I don't know if I've actually said this before) but TGG stands for The Gallagher Girl. You should check out her stories. And bug her to update, because her stories are awesome and she's basically abandoned them. :'( So sad…**

**TGG: Hope you appreciate this. I really wanted to read and I had a head ache. I had a glass of some kind of liqueur I found in my dad's stash to convince myself to write. Not quite sure what it was, but it tasted nice and was 35% alcohol. **

Falling Higher:

Chapter Twenty-Three:

I made my way down the hallway as silently and stealthily as I could. Now that I no longer had Angel to tell me if there was anyone about to appear around the corner with a giant needle and a clipboard, I had to rely on my own abilities.

Which would be no problem of course- I was well practiced in the art of sneaking.

On my way to the wing where Angel and Gazzy were being kept I had noticed a door. A particular door that had seemed out of place in the white sterile hallways of the School, it was bright red and had one of those giant yellow caution signs slapped in the middle. This had sparked my interest as much as it would anyone's, but at the time I had been far too focused on following the voice in my head to where the two were being locked up to investigate.

Now though, I was almost certain I knew what it was that lay on the other side. And I knew what to do with it.

If what Angel had told me was correct (And I assumed it was) then the whitecoats were basically planning world domination. Their plan was to turn the majority of the world's population into mutants just like their experiments so that the human race could become a faster, better, stronger species. If I had learned anything from Iggy the past few months, it would be that most gas is flammable. And therefore, could be used to cause an explosion.

I fought the urge to chuckle evilly under my breath as I crept around the corner to where the door was.

I had no idea what it was that was keeping all the whitecoats away, whether it was the work of some higher power, the fact that the guy in charge had found a funny YouTube video and insisted on sharing it with all 156 of his co-workers, or both, but whatever it was I was grateful. I would've never forgiven myself if I'd made it so far only to be hauled back into my goo-tube.

"Please let this be the right door." I mumbled under my breath as I reached out and hesitantly pushed it open.

I will admit I was expecting something a little more… ominous than the slightly fat, balding scientist whistling to himself as he washed out test-tubes. Of course, there was now the matter of getting past him and through the next giant red door without him noticing me.

The room the door had opened up into looked like a bit of a mad-scientist tea room with dishes all over the place, benches, cabinets suspended on the walls and a small group of arm-chairs over to one corner. Definitely not what I was expecting, but the other crimson door (the one I had to get through without alerting the whitecoats) that stood exactly opposite me showed some promise. This door had a rather large 'X' painted on it in black.

Not very subtle, but then again the whitecoats always did have a flair for the dramatic. I wasn't complaining though. It made my job easier.

Now if I could only find a barrel of dynamite and a box of matches…

First though, I had to get rid of the scientist.

I crept towards him with a raised fist, planning on knocking him out and being done with it, but unfortunately for me, I knocked a hip into a bench and sent a test tube crashing to the ground. Subtle, I

We both froze.

Slowly, the scientist turned around to find me just a few steps away from him, looking like a mad-woman with a clenched fist above my head.

I did what anyone would do in this situation.

"You missed a spot." I told him, pointing at one of the test tubes he was washing.

He blinked, and turned to look (such a gullible idiot) giving me time to jump forward and knock him over the head.

I really tried to help him fall gently to the ground, but this guy was huge, okay? And I was already nearing the limits of my strength for the day. So he kind of landed a bit harshly… and maybe hit his head on a table on the way down, but he was already un-conscious so I'm pretty sure it's okay. Besides, there really wasn't that much blood.

I straightened and strode toward the red door, planning on barging through and finishing things once and for all. But the second I put my hand on the door I realizing I could hear voices behind it. The wood made it impossible to tell what they were saying, but there was obviously some white coat meeting going on in there.

"I just can't catch a break." I muttered, wondering what I was going to do now. I couldn't just jump in and expect to stop all of them from getting away and raising the alarm.

"Come on, come on… jackpot!" I spotted what looked like an air vent in the wall. I walked over and tried to jerk the covering off it, but the stubborn thing wouldn't move. "This is so much easier in movies." I growled.

I glanced around the room to see if I could find something to pry it open with. Despite the room looking like a tea room for a bunch of made scientists there was nothing I could use unless I wanted to waste my time with china cups and wooden spoons.

My gaze rested on the balding scientist on the floor and I groaned. "Great. Yay for me."

I looted through his pockets, pulling out pens and random pieces of paper.

"You smoke?" I asked him as I pulled out a packet of cigarettes. "Such a bad habit."

I reached into another pocket.

"A lighter," I grinned. "And suddenly my luck is looking up."

After a few more minutes of searching I pulled out a pocket knife. The kind with all those different attachments. Thankfully, one of them was a screwdriver. I grinned in triumph and jogged back to the vent. After a few moments I had it open and was wiggling inside.

With my back pressed hard against one wall I used my feet on the opposite to push myself up until I reached the flat and could pull myself up.

I shuffled along slowly, trying to be quiet in case the white coats below heard me. Luckily, they had all started arguing over something and didn't hear me as I inched along. The vent creaked a few times under my weight and I hoped it wouldn't collapse from under me.

Should have knocked on wood right after thinking that.

Within a few seconds the vent gave way and I found myself falling through the air before landing right in the middle of a hard oak table.

A dozen dumbfounded white coats stood around me, looking slightly dazed at my sudden appearance.

"Hey." I gasped, slightly winded from doing a belly flop onto a table.

"Wh… What?" One of them stuttered, still staring.

"Yeah… You're going to have to have a seriously talk about the condition of your vents. They are so old, you're lucky no one got hurt. I could have _died_." I informed them, stalling for a way out of this.

"Sound the alarm, get the guards!" One of them screamed and they all started running everywhere.

Reminded me of a group of headless chickens honestly.

"I was _really_ hoping to avoid this." I grumbled as I slid off the table and to my feet.

The white coats took one look at me stumbling toward them, before turning and bolting out the door.

A door with a lock on it.

"It can't seriously be this easy can it?" I asked myself as I shoved the bolt down. "I should have just walked through the door in the first place. _Way_ less effort…"

I turned and studied what was beyond the white coat's table.

A shining silver machine sat in a corner. It was large, roughly the size of an armchair, and looked like a cross between some form of diving gear with gas tanks on either side, and some kind of sci-fi super computer. It had glowing buttons everywhere and a dome of clear glass on top that was filled with some kind of volatile-looking purple gas that swirled and churned.

To be honest, it looked pretty cool. But what I noticed most of all was the gas at the top. I couldn't help my smirk as I looked from the gas to the lighter I was holding.

Of course, then I realized if I broke open the dome and tossed the lighter in it would not only blow up the school it would blow me up too.

_So_ not part of the plan.

I considered the room around me, my gaze landing on the wooden beams around the ceiling. The roof over the machine was a lot higher than the roof over the table (A bit like a chimney) and I decided I was lucky I only fell the short distance to the table and not the 3 story drop to the machine.

Opening me wings, I stretched them slightly before leaping into the air and flying up to the wooden beam. I discovered when I was up there that a good half of the roof was glass right above the machine. Probably for when they would do something to release whatever it was the scientist were planning into the world.

"Not on my watch." I muttered, quickly coming up with a plan I hoped would work.

Bracing myself, I threw a punch at the glass covering the roof hoping like hell it wasn't bulletproof or anything like that.

My fist hit with a solid sound and didn't break the glass. It did however, crack it.

Shaking out my fist, I clenched my sore fingers and tried again.

There was a crunch as one of my knuckles broke on the impact, but the glass shattered and I managed to knock more away to make a decent sized hole.

I gripped the screwdriver in my other hand, my right one pinned to my stomach as I grimaced in pain. "Should have done this bit first." I gasped.

Slowly, I loosened the bolts on one of the wooden beams right above the dome of the machine.

A loud banging sound made me shoot a look at the doors. Great. The guards were here.

I worked faster, wanting to get out of there and just get _home_.

A great crash as the doors were broken open made me drop the screwdriver. I cried out in annoyance, but my eyes widened as the guards streamed into the room.

I lifted a foot and slammed it down on top of the beam. Luckily, I had worked on the screws long enough and it was loose enough to fall the three story drop to smash into the dome of the machine.

The guards looked in horror from the gas streaming out to me with the lighter in my hand.

With a grin that I could tell looked evil, I dropped the lighter, opened my wings, and leapt throw the hole.

Strong wing beats helped me rise quickly, but I still felt the heat of the explosion on my back.

I dipped into a turn and saw the school lying as a heap of blackened supports on the ground.

I sighed at the feeling of peace it gave me, and turned again to fly home.

It was finally all over.

Well… that was until I had to tell Dr M where I'd been and why I'd run away…

Damn. Maybe I should've just stayed with the whitecoats.

**Um, okay. This is actually pretty close to finishing now that she's officially out of the School… I don't know how many chapters but maybe around five…?**


	26. Chapter Twenty-Four

**Hey guys! Erm, so I checked my story plan and realised that I'm an idiot and I now don't really know how to end the story… I know it'll be happening soon and I have a general idea of what I want the last line to say, but other than that I don't really know. So bear with if the chapters updates start getting even more erratic, it's just 'cos I don't know what I'm writing. :P**

**In fact, for all I know, this could be like, the second to last chapter or something…**

**And thanks to all those who have recently (And not so recently) added me to their favourites list(s), and/or started following. You guys are awesome. :D **

Falling Higher:

Chapter Twenty-Four:

"Great job guys," I said as I landed behind Angel and Gazzy and eyed the small gathering of mutants that the two had obviously liberated from the School.

They dragged their eyes away from the giant fireball on the horizon and looked at me with awe on their faces.

"Did you do that?" Asked Gazzy.

"Yep," I replied, unbothered by the awesome view- I'd had plenty of time to study it when I was flying for my life out of the way of the scorching flames, "We need to go now though; the whitecoats that managed to escape will probably try to come after us. Those guys take job dedication to a whole new level."

Angel nodded, taking my hand and turning to look back at the various aberrations standing around behind us.

"What do we do with them, Max?" She asked innocently.

Ah. There was a good question.

To be honest, I'd kind of thought that my chances of actually surviving what I'd just done were slim to none. I hadn't bothered to plan any further than where my feet would be landing next, let alone what to do with those we'd rescued after I'd succeeded.

"Erm…" I started, planning to bluff my way through with another one of my last-minute plans, "Well…"

I looked at the group of misfits in front of me. There were about twenty all together, but less than half actually looked okay to travel. Some of them were just lying on the ground, their head lolling and their eyes unseeing. It was apparent that being out of the school wasn't exactly the end of their problems.

I looked down at Angel, trying to figure out a way to break the news gently. Thankfully it wasn't necessary- she was a mind-reader after all.

"It's okay Max," she said, "I understand. But we still can't just leave them here can we?"

Well no. But we definitely couldn't take them with us.

Just as I was mulling the situation over in my mind, a girl stepped forward. Unlike the others, she seemed mostly alright, the only mutations that were obvious were the two small horns sticking out of her forehead and the small cat-like tail swishing behind her.

"I will take them to a safe place." She said.

I narrowed my eyes at her, more out of habit than actual suspicion.

"Do you think you can handle it? Most of these guys don't look fit to travel and none of them can fly, how will you get them back?"

Angel looked up at me and smiled sweetly.

"Don't worry Max, she can do it. We can leave them with her, she won't hurt them."

I couldn't help but hesitate, as much of a pain these mutants would be if we had to somehow carry them back ourselves and find a place for them to stay, I didn't want to leave them with a complete stranger whose name I didn't even know.

"She doesn't have a name… her ID number is 2745." Angel piped up.

Well that solved that dilemma.

"Alright then. I guess they can go with you… but just how do you plan to get them out of here?"

She looked at me, her violet eyes eerily unfocused but didn't say anything.

"Okay… thanks for clearing that up…" I said when it became apparent she wasn't going to tell us.

"If you're sure you can handle them…" She nodded. "Then I guess we'll be going."

Angel let go of my hand briefly to grab her brother's, who was currently scratching behind the ear of one of the more reptilian mutants.

"Awww," mumbled Gazzy as Angel dragged him over to my side, "I think he liked me…"

I rolled my eyes.

"Alright guys, how far do you think you can fly? I know your wings are relatively new, so do you think you can make it to the closest town? We can stop there for a while and have snack or something." I didn't mention that any snacks we would be eating would be dug up from dumpsters.

"I can make it there," said Gazzy, puffing up his chest and holding up his right arm as if he were superman, "let's go! I want to see the fire from up high!"

Something tells me Iggy and this kid would get along great.

"Alright then guys…" I unfurled my wings (Which were only slightly singed) and watched as the others did the same.

"Up and away then I guess."

A few hours and a lot of dumpster-diving later (It really is shocking how unopposed to eating food out of the rubbish these kids were… Gazzy actually seemed excited when he found a burger that had an old sock on it) we were almost home.

Of course then it occurred to me that I had no idea where these kids lived and that I was just taking them back to Dr M's house, without any plan or idea as to what to do next.

"Um… where do you guys live exactly?" I asked as we were flying over another small suburban block of perfect lawns and identical houses.

"You don't know?" Asked Gazzy, sounding much more shocked then he should of.

"But you're going in the right direction," Angel said, "in fact we're almost there."

Hmmm….

"We live in the same neighbourhood!" Said Angel excitedly, "now we can be best friends and… hey! You know our cousins, Fang and Iggy!"

I will admit I lost my cool a little bit there… I may have dropped a couple of feet mid-flight, but I like to think I recovered smoothly. It would've been easier to think as well if Gazzy hadn't been roaring in the background with laughter. It seems all that kid really needed to make a full recovery was a couple of stale burgers and a good flight.

"You're related to Fang? And Iggy?" I asked.

Angel nodded.

"We're cousins," She told me.

Well, at least now I knew where to fly them.

Just as I thought that, the small neighbourhood church spire came into view among the grid of grey houses and green grass. I angled towards it, the other two following suit behind me. I did a quick pedestrian check and, seeing no one, landed just outside the grand oak double doors.

"Phew," said Gazzy, leaning on his knees and panting dramatically, "I thought we'd never get here."

Angel rolled her eyes at her brother and I grinned down at her. I was so grooming this one to be my protégée.

"We should get back, I'm sure the others have been worrying about you Max."

I frowned slightly and tried to think of a nice way to phrase what I was thinking.

"They should have been worried about you too, Angel, you're their cousin. You know they haven't mentioned you to me at all and… well to be honest, they didn't seem particularly torn up about your disappearance."

Okay, so perhaps I wasn't the best person in the world when it came to breaking bad news to people gently.

Angel smiled up at me.

"Don't worry, Max," she said, "they were worried. They just knew they couldn't do anything to help. Besides, everyone thought we'd run away."

I couldn't help but be sceptic; the story was pretty far-fetched after all, still if Angel believed it…

"So now what do we do?" Gazzy asked, looking around him and realising how out-of place we looked standing outside the church.

"Well…" I said, "I guess we go home."

It didn't take us long to walk there, although we did get a few strange looks at our paper hospital dresses (You have no idea how difficult it was to fly in those by the way, I had to make sure Angel and Gazzy were flying _beside_ me, not behind just in case they got scarred for life) although I was glad we'd managed to find some jackets in the dumpsters that fit us well enough to cover our wings.

I'm pretty sure a few people thought we were escapees from some kind of mental institution. Not that I could blame them of course.

When we finally did get there, I couldn't help but be shocked by what I saw.

We came up around the back way, to avoid any more confused stares and the first thing that caught my eye was Ella and Iggy, who were sitting on the step of the back porch and… well… I'm sure you can guess.

"I'm happy for you guys and all," I spoke up, only too happy to ruin the moment, "but you'd think you'd be a little more torn-up about our disappearances."

The two broke apart immediately, blushing, looking sheepish and mumbling excuses.

I stood there with my hands on my hips and did my best to give off the impression of stern parent. They both looked at me for a minute in confusion- probably about the outfit.

And then the realisation hit.

"Max?" Ella asked in disbelief.

"Uh, yeah. Do you know anyone else this awesome?" I asked them.

I thought I heard Iggy mumble something, but I couldn't tell because the next minute I was being smothered by Ella, who had wrapped her arms around me tighter than some kind of vice.

"Ugh," I choked out, "found someone else too," I pointed to Angel and Gazzy who were standing around a little bit awkwardly.

I thought I saw Iggy rush towards them, but my vision was starting to go hazy due to the lack of oxygen brought on by Ella's painfully tight hug.

"Okay," I wheezed at her, "Enough. Can't breathe…."

She let me go reluctantly and wiped some tears out of her eyes.

"I should get Fang," she told me "he'll be happy you're back. They've already tried rescuing you once- it didn't go exactly to plan."

I nodded at her and tried not to show how fast my heart was beating at the idea of seeing him.

Ella didn't move.

"Aren't you going to…" I prodded.

She sniffed and nodded.

"FANG!" She bellowed so loud my ears hurt.

"Ow…" I mumbled.

"Yeah?" A familiar head poked out of my window and I decided to question what the hell he was doing in my room at another time.

He looked down at me in confusion.

"Why is Maya wearing a paper hospital gown?" He asked.

I frowned.

"Who the hell is Maya? You'd think you'd be a little happier to see me."

He stared at me for a moment, looking far more confused than he should of.

"Max…?" He asked hesitantly.

"Uh, yeah. Who else?"

He didn't answer, just pulled his head back inside my room.

I scowled.

Honestly, you look forward to seeing someone and that's how you're repaid.

"Nice to know I've been missed," I said to Ella, trying not to show how much his nonchalance had hurt.

I was immediately pulled into a hug by Iggy, who had looked like he was about to cry.

"I can't believe you're back. And you saved Gazzy and Angel…" he trailed off.

"Erm… no problem Iggs," I told him, patting his back awkwardly.

I heard the screen door opening behind me and suddenly I was being pulled into more arms.

"Max!" I heard Dr M sob, "I'm so glad you're okay!"

She dissolved into tears on my shoulder and I stood there with wide eyes, having absolutely no idea what to do. I was not good at dealing with tears.

"Yep," I said, "So am I…"

I heard another shriek in the background and was then being hugged by someone else.

Honestly, this whole being passed from person to person thing was getting old.

"ZOMG! Max, I'm so glad you're okay," Nudge rambled, "We tried to go and get you, you know, Iggy even blew things up for you, but we accidentally got the wrong Max."

What?

"Max?" I heard Fang's voice (How I don't know) over Nudge's high-pitched blubbering.

"Is that really you?"

Why did people keep asking me that? What there seriously another Max around that I wasn't aware of?

"Yep."

I swallowed the odd lump that had suddenly gotten stuck in my throat.

I pried Nudge off of me with difficulty and passed her off to Ella, before turning and facing him.

"Hey." I said.

"Hi…"

I played with the bottom of my gown nervously.

"-We tried to bust you out," he began.

"-I found your cousins," I said at the same time.

Wow. Have you ever seen a more awkward situation?

Dr M started ushering everyone inside, mumbling something about leaving us alone to go and fill Maya in.

Who was this Maya?

"We went looking for you," Fang told me slowly, "We almost got you out, broke into the School and everything."

"Yeah," I said, "Nudge told me that bit. Something about getting the wrong Max?"

He opened his mouth to explain but I interrupted him.

"I really don't want to know right now," I told him, "I'd rather know why the hell you'd want to bust me out at all. You're an idiot."

He frowned at me in confusion.

I sighed.

"You'd seriously risk your own life- and theirs- just to get me out of that place? How stupid are you?"

His frown turned into a glare.

"I was trying to save you. Forgive me for caring." He said sarcastically and I mentally sighed with relief.

Arguing with him made so much more sense than wanting to hug him. So what if he was the boy who used to be in the crate next to me. That shouldn't change anything, I doubt he even remembered.

I guess my worry showed on my face because then next thing I knew, I was being folded into his arms.

"Sorry," he sighed, "But we couldn't just leave you there."

I wrapped my arms around him slowly, not quite sure of what to make of this new… display of affection.

"Er… that's okay… I guess…" I mumbled.

"But what was Nudge talking about when she said you guys got the wrong Max?" I asked, pulling away from him and trying to re-focus my thoughts.

He looked at me a bit awkwardly.

"Yeah…" He began, "About that…"

**I just read through the full story of Falling Higher and man, there are a lot of grammar mistakes. It almost hurt my eyes to read it. Not to mention a whole bunch of stuff that gets repeated or doesn't make sense. Like, for instance, I just realised that at the beginning of the book Max had a Voice, but then he randomly disappeared. **

**Oh well… you can make what you want of that I guess. Maybe one day when I can be bothered and when I've finished this I'll go back and edit it all.**

**Or not, knowing me.**

**Anyway, hope you liked it.**

**So as far as I can tell there's maybe one more chapter at the end of this and possibly an epilogue… **

**Er, yep.**

**Review if you want. **** It gives me someone to talk to. **


	27. Chapter Twenty-Five

**CAPITALS DRAW ATTENTION TO THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT! (NOT JUST HERE… ALTHOUGH THE NEXT BIT IS KIND OF IMPORTANT… YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ THE WHOLE THING, JUST THE FIRST PARAGRAPH)**

**So this is the second-to-last chapter, and the ending depends on what you guys say in the poll I have on my profile page (Go check it out! The outcome of this story depends on it!).**

**Either way, I hope you enjoy, I can't believe I'm almost finished this. :) This will be the first story I've ever actually finished (Although definitely not the only one I've started) and so I'd like to thank all of those who commented and followed. :) You guys are awesome.**

**Er, okay. That was a little bit of a random emotional spurt (That sounds really gross). I'll shut up now so you can actually read the story. :P **

* * *

><p>Falling Higher:<p>

Chapter Twenty-Five:

* * *

><p>I don't know what was weirder blowing up a school full or mad-scientists after rescuing countless scores of mutants, or meeting my clone, Maya.<p>

It didn't take me long to figure out it was the latter, but after about thirty seconds of awkward silence and staring, I found out that Maya was actually pretty cool. She wasn't nearly as bossy as I was, which was good for everyone really, because I don't think the world could handle two Max's that were entirely identical the appearance thing was enough to freak more than a few people out.

"So where are you going to stay, Maya?" Dr M asked as she loaded another plate full of freshly steaming chocolate chip cookies.

I tried not to drool too much as she put the plate in front of me. I smacked Fang's hand out of the way as he reached for one, glaring at him and trying my best to shield my cookies. Just because we had kind-of (Alright fine. We actually had) kissed did not mean I was willing to share. I was barely paying attention to Maya's answer when I realised that Dr M was clapping.

"What do you think of that, Max?" She asked, beaming at me.

"Dunno," I said around a mouthful of chocolate and crumbs, "I wasn't listening."

Fang grabbed for a cookie while I was preoccupied and made a triumphant sound when he got one. I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

"Max," said Dr M, "Pay attention, this is important."

I turned back to her, a little bit guiltily. I had put her through a lot, the least I could do was pay attention when she was talking.

"Mmm?"

"What do you think…" she paused and clapped her hands together again, "If Maya comes to live here, with us?"

I choked on my cookie.

"Um," I wheezed as Fang pat me on the back, "Bit out of the blue don't you think?"

Maya looked down and I suddenly realised what her living with us meant. She didn't have any family; she didn't have anyone to rescue her, no one to run to when she couldn't go anywhere else.

Besides, how awesome would it be to have another me around?

"I think it sounds good." I decided and Dr M beamed at me.

"I knew you'd agree, Max," she said, "I'm going to go and tell the others."

She gestured wildly for Maya to follow her basically skipped out the door.

Honestly, that woman was still twelve at heart.

"You sure you're okay with that, Max?" Fang asked me and I was suddenly very aware that we were alone together for the first time since our incident in the park.

He cleared his throat awkwardly and I brushed some crumbs off my shirt self-consciously.

"I should probably go and see the other's reactions…" I mumbled, desperately trying to escape from the silence that was slowly deafening me.

I moved to get up, but Fang's arm was suddenly on my arm. His hand was far too warm, even through the long-sleeved shirt I had changed into.

"Max," he said softly.

"Yeah?" I replied, not looking him in the eye.

"I… I'm sorry that we left you in there… that we couldn't get you out."

I had the sudden, shocking urge to laugh and couldn't contain the small snicker that escaped.

Fang frowned.

"What part of this is funny?" He asked.

"Just the fact that you actually managed to break into the School. And then you accidentally rescued the wrong Max. I think I may be slightly hysterical, but that seems ridiculously funny to me."

Fang rolled his eyes, although he was smiling slightly too.

"Seriously though Max. I'm sorry we didn't get you out of t here."

I looked up at him. At some point in our conversation he'd gotten out of his chair and was now towering over me. I craned my neck to look him in the eye.

I really hate tall people.

"It's fine Fang. I wasn't expecting you lot to rescue me. Besides, it's been ages since I've had to do something like that. I found it almost… therapeutic."

Fang gave me an odd look.

"Yeah, I think you might be a little bit hysterical."

You think?

I looked Fang in the eyes a moment longer, not quite sure what to say, or why his hand was still on my arm.

_This would be the perfect time to kiss him, Max._

Shut up voice.

_It's Angel._

I felt my eyebrows crease. I hadn't heard from the voice in a while. Maybe even a few weeks. How could I not have noticed that the annoying little man in my head wasn't making snide comments at my every move?

Ah. That's right. Because _I'm _the one who makes snide comments at my every move.

After a few seconds of fruitless eyebrow creasing and weird facial expressions (From both me and Fang when he noticed what I was doing), I gave up, deciding that the voice had obviously up and left me for good.

In fact, I don't think I'd heard from the voice since the incident in the park.

Huh. Perhaps my kissing Fang had banished him for good.

"Are you alright?" Fang asked me, having obviously noticed my frowning.

Did I ever tell him about the voice?

"Yep. I'm fine…" I mumbled, not sure whether to be pleased or disappointed that the voice had left.

It didn't take me long to decide I was pleased.

"My imaginary friend just disappeared, that's all." I told him, "I'm considering throwing a party, that voice was super-annoying."

Fang frowned and looked worried.

"Perhaps it's time you go to bed, you've had really long day."

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><p><strong>So that was probably a terrible place to end it.<strong>

**I'm sorry it took so long for so little. Again.**

**I really am crap with this updating thing.**

**Still, I hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to review and favourite and all of that if you did. :)**

**AND DON'T FORGET TO VOTE ON THE POLL ON MY PAGE!**


	28. Chapter Twenty-Six

**Last chapter guys! Although, I'm willing to do another one if you're entirely unsatisfied with the ending. I haven't really finished a book before and so I wasn't sure what to do here…**

**But anyway, enough of my rambling: **

**Read on!**

Falling Higher:

Chapter twenty-six:

Five days had passed since I had broken out of the school. Five days since I met Fang and Iggy's mental, psychic and now mutated cousins. Five days since Maya had moved in with us and five days since the first time I felt everything was really going back to normal since Jeb died.

Maya was, surprisingly (or not since she's basically another me), really cool. I'm pretty sure Ella and Nudge preferred her over me actually, considering the fact she isn't afraid to let them near her with makeup and will participate in whatever strange, boy-induced conversation they were having. And enjoy it. Angel and Gazzy were even learning to cope with their new wings- with the help of regular flying-coaching sessions with me and Iggy.

I wouldn't exactly say I was surprised when I found out the rest of my friends had wings… I mean, after all I'd been through in the past few days (meeting my clone, kissing Fang, blowing up a School full of mad-scientists) I almost felt that nothing _could _surprise me anymore. I was shocked, sure… but I found I was more pleased than anything (even angry, which is a first).

Things between Fang and I however, had been awkward to say the least. I think the problem was that he had difficulty telling me and Maya apart. It had nothing to do with the fact that I had been avoiding hi m ever since that day in the kitchen…. Well, okay, perhaps that had _something _to do with it. Bur could you blame me? I went from hating the guy to lo- _liking _him in just a few short months.

A star shot across the sky, it's glowing tail streaming out behind it, and I watched from where I sat on the roof of my new home.

_Make a wish, Max._

I didn't have much left to wish for… it seemed everything was almost perfect as it was. Well, _almost. _

I closed my eyes and made a silent wish, breathing in a deep breath of cool night air before I opened my eyes again

"Erm… hi," I heard a voice say from above.

Leaves and small twigs blew around me in a small whirlwind as Fang landed, his pitch-black wings almost matching the colour of the sky above.

"Hey." I said awkwardly.

He sat down beside me and squinted up at the sky.

I ran a hand down my arm self-consciously and desperately tried to think of something to say. My awkwardness was not helped in the slightest by the feeling of his eyes on me.

"Can you stop staring?" I finally snapped.

He grinned at me. Not the reaction I was expecting.

"So you are Max."

I gave him a flat look.

"No duh. You know, you're really going to learn how to tell me and Maya apart." I told him, pretending not to notice when he scooted closer to me.

"Yeah," he agreed, "It's usually not too difficult considering the different clothes you two wear. I mostly just wait for you to open your mouth though. It's when you start talking that I really know it's you."

I punched him in the arm and tried to contain the small smile that seemed intent on showing itself as he chuckled beside me.

"You're kind of a jerk, you know." I told him.

"Yeah," he said, putting an arm around my shoulders, "I know."

I stiffened slightly.

What the hell did I do now?

"Don't overthink it Max. Just shut up and sit with me," he said, evidentially my mini-freak-out was not as subtle as I would have liked to think.

I did as I was told for once though. As weird as it was, I kind of liked just sitting with Fang, staring up at the stars.

And I wasn't nearly as cold now either, which was a bonus from the whole "arm-around-me" thing.

"Hey, Max," I heard Maya say as she stuck her head out of my window, "mom wanted me to tell you- oh. Um, sorry." She stopped, obviously having just noticed Fang.

Maya, unlike me, had absolutely not qualms about calling Dr M "mom", which she loved of course. I thought it was good for the both of them, and sometimes I even found myself calling her "mom" as well, although thankfully she hadn't reacted as much as she had the first time.

"Hey, Maya." I mumbled, feeling my face heat up as I moved out from underneath Fang's arm, "What's up?"

"Er… well… I'm supposed to tell you to get inside so you don't catch a cold, but something tells me that you're warm enough out here," She said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

I glared at her.

"I'm fine. Besides, I was just about to go back in anyway. Tell Dr M not to worry so much."

Maya nodded and ducked her head back inside.

"Well," I mumbled, not looking Fang in the eye, "Looks like it's time for me to go in… I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure." Fang said and I turned to follow Maya back inside.

"Hey, Max," he said, catching my arm as I stood up.

"Yeah?" I turned my head back to look at him and was momentarily stunned when I felt his lips press against mine.

"Just that." He told me, chuckling at the look of shock that was undoubtedly on my face.

I just blushed some more and nodded at him, before crawling back through my window with what I would like to think was dignified grace.

"This may sound like a stupid question," Maya said as I turned to face her, "but have you ever had any… voices in your head? I figured it might be a mutant thing, and he said he knows you…"

I looked at Maya, unable to stop myself from laughing.

"I can't believe the Voice got the wrong Max as well!" I giggled.

Maya just looked at me, confused.

"So you do know him?"

"Oh yeah. But you can keep him. Believe me; we did not get along very well."

Maya grinned at me.

"Yeah, he did say something along the same lines."

I laughed again as we made our way downstairs.

Well, I guess that answers the question of what happened to the voice.

…**IT'S FINISHED! YAY!**

**I'm so sorry for the ridiculously long waits between all of the chapters, and I really would like to thank all of you who managed to stick with me throughout the entire thing. And all of you who reviewed, followed, favourite or just enjoyed in general, you guys are seriously awesome. :D**

**If I failed to explain something, or if you have any unanswered questions, PM me or add it in a review, and I will answer it for you…. Well, I'll do my best to. Sometimes I don't even know why I've written something.**

**But that's enough of me talking, I've probably over-excited you thinking it was going to be a decent sized chapter, when the majority of it was just me talking. Sorry about that…**

**Please review. Just because this is the last chapter, does not mean I don't want to know what you guys thought. Seriously. I really want to know…**

**GOODBYE! **

**I think it's safe to say I won't be posting any more novel-type books on here any time soon, although I may upload a couple of one-shots every now and again.**

**THANK YOU ALL!**

**ERM… BYE!**


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